The National Journal reported yesterday on the RNLA’s efforts to ensure that every Republican Candidate has an opportunity to get on the ballot in each of the 50 states and 6 American territories. The Ballot Access Initiative, spearheaded by Co-Chairs Stefan Passantino and Peter Schalestock with help from their team of RNLA volunteers, have come up with the most sweeping ballot-access project in GOP history.
Getting on the ballot as a candidate seems like a simple task, however, each jurisdiction has different rules, which can cost a campaign a lot of money. According to the article:
How much money? According to Stefan Passantino, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who served as cochairman of the Ballot Access Initiative, the number reaches easily into the six figures.
It typically costs “tens of thousands of dollars in direct research costs to the campaign,” Passantino said. “When you combine that with the additional costs incurred in having to hire professional signature-gatherers because of an inability to fully allocate volunteer resources at the outset, the amount undoubtedly extends to six figures.”
RNLA President Larry Levy, who served as general counsel to Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 White House bid as well as RNLA Chairman Randy Evans, a senior advisor for Newt Gingrich’s 2012 Presidential Campaign recognized the difficulties presented to counsels for a candidate to get access to the ballot in all of the states.
“We both had experience in representing presidential candidates and recognized how difficult and time-consuming it is to get on the ballot in every jurisdiction,” Levy said of himself and Evans.
Evans, recalling his experience with the Gingrich campaign, added: “I know how painful it was in Virginia when we couldn’t muster enough signatures to get on the ballot. It’s important for candidates to know what the rules are.”
The RNLA launched the Ballot Access Initiative back in January of 2015after the midterm elections.
In the past, one of the challenging hurdles for even the strongest candidates has been the legal technicalities of actually getting their name on the ballot in all 50 states and 6 territories. In fact, during the last cycle there was one state where only two candidates' names were on the ballot even though more viable candidates remained in the race.
The RNLA thanks all who were involved over the past nine months to help accompany the goals that the Ballot Access Project set out to accomplish.