Ballot access
Ballot access is the standing granted by law to a candidate or political party to appear on voters' ballots. Each jurisdiction (in the United States, each state) has its own ballot access laws to determine who may appear on the ballots and who may not. Depending on the office and the state, it may be possible for a voter to cast a write-in vote for a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot, but it is rare for such a candidate to win office. In many cases, write-in votes are not counted.
Setting ballot access criteria too low results in a plethora of frivolous candidates on the ballot which causes confusion and wastes the time of voters (e.g., the 2003 California recall). Setting ballot access criteria too high protects incumbents against fair competition by restricting the rights of voters, candidates, and political parties.
In some U.S. states, ballot access laws keep frivolous candidates off the ballot while making it difficult but feasible for third party candidates (i.e. of the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian parties) to run for office and protecting the rights of voters to vote for them. In other states, Democrats and Republicans collude to impose extremely restrictive ballot access laws, not to keep frivolous candidates off the ballot, but to keep all other parties off the ballot. Both state and federal courts sometimes nullify overly restrictive ballot access laws on various constitutional grounds.
As an example of how ballot access laws are designed by Republicans and Democrats to protect Republicans and Democrats from competition, as of November 2003, a Republican or Democrat wishing to be on the presidential ballot in all fifty states needs to collect a minimum of 23,500 valid signatures. However, a candidate of a new party needs to collect a minimum of 625,000 valid signatures.
An even more extreme example (Title 26, sections 5-112 and 6-106) may be found in Oklahoma where candidates may appear on the ballot by paying a filing fee -- except for voters who are registered Libertarian or Reform, who must collect a minimum of 51,781 valid signatures.
