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The Libertarian Party of Arkansas delivered more than 15,000 signatures to Secretary of State Mark Martin's office Monday to once again become a "new political party."

In a news release, the party said this is the fourth consecutive election cycle in which it has registered as a new party. The state Libertarian Party has never met a threshold set in Arkansas law to automatically retain ballot access -- like the state Republican and Democratic parties -- and avoid the petition process.

Arkansas Libertarian Party Chairman Michael Pakko is asking for a change.

"Libertarians are giving the voters a choice in races up and down the ballot. Moreover, people are choosing to cast their votes for Libertarians," he said in a statement. "In total, Libertarian candidates received 356,287 votes in 2016 -- over 7.5 percent of all votes cast in those races."

"Yet the election laws of the State of Arkansas say that's not good enough to remain a state-recognized political party."

The national Libertarian Party says it already has ballot access for the 2018 elections in 37 states. Of Arkansas' surrounding states, it currently lacks access only in Tennessee.

In Arkansas, the party needs its presidential candidate to garner 3 percent of the popular vote to retain ballot access. Pakko said a more reasonable standard would be 2 percent.

In 2016, the party's candidate, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, received 2.6 percent of the vote in Arkansas. In 2012, he received 1.5 percent of the vote.

Libertarians won recognition as an official Arkansas political party for the first time after collecting more than 16,000 signatures in 2011.

The secretary of state's office has 30 days to validate the party's signatures to verify that at least 10,000 registered voters have signed the petitions.

After some final paperwork to be filed, the Libertarian Party of Arkansas expects to be declared a "new political party" sometime before the end of July.

Pakko said the party plans to start recruiting candidates at that point.

"If you believe that government should protect the rights of the individual, that people should be able to lead their lives however they see fit with minimal interference from government -- if you believe that freedom and prosperity flourish in a world where markets are allowed to work and the U.S. is at peace with its neighbors and the world -- then please consider joining the Libertarian Party of Arkansas, and running for office as a Libertarian," he said.

In the past, the state Libertarian Party has sued over laws that treat Libertarians differently than Republicans and Democrats.

In 2015, the state Libertarian Party filed a complaint after the Arkansas Legislature moved the Libertarian Party's political practices pledge deadline "from March of the General Election year to November 2 through 9 of the year before the General Election year," and required that "any nominating convention for a new political party must be completed" in early November 2015, a year before the general election.

In order to participate with other states earlier in the presidential nomination process, the Arkansas Legislature decided to shift the 2016 primary elections from May 24 to March 1, and the filing period for Democrats and Republicans for the primaries was Nov. 2-9, 2015, instead of late February-early March 2016.

"The two other political parties are making us select our final candidates just when their selection process is just getting underway -- all so they can have their early primary," Pakko said at the time.

In 2016, U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. said the state's statutes for newly recognized parties effectively required the party to nominate its candidates months before the other parties' primaries, and that such a process was unconstitutional. However, Moody declined to force the state to add Libertarian candidates who missed the deadline to the ballot, saying others within the party had filed in time.

The 3 percent presidential candidate election standard applies to every political party -- including Republicans and Democrats. The dates for the 2018 elections follow their normal schedule.

Metro on 06/13/2017

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Libertarian Party turns in petitions to get on '18 ballot - Arkansas Online

"What we're witnessing," says Nick Gillespie on today's Reason Podcast, "is the end of a bunch of things"the Clinton political dynasty, Brexit, French establishment politics, the collapse of the May government in the United Kingdom"and in that end, there is the possiblity of...a different, 21st-century world...where politics and policy follow all the advances in personalization and individualization and autonomy we see in our cultural and political lives."

Gillespie is joined by Reason magazine Editor in Chief Katherine Mangu-Ward and Reason Editor at Large Matt Welch. Andrew Heaton moderates a discussion that heatdly talks about former FBI director James Comey's controversial testimony about Donald Trump, the results of last week's election in Britain, a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar featuring a titular character who looks a lot like the president, and whether Infowars' host and 9/11 truther Alex Jones is actually the libertarian he self-describes as.

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Was Comey Convincing, Is Trump Julius Caesar, Is Alex Jones a Libertarian? [Reason Podcast] - Reason (blog)

Fox 59

Indiana's Libertarian Party 'drinking-in' to put lawmakers on tap for ... Fox 59 COLUMBUS, Ind. Indiana's Libertarian Party helped served a cold one Sunday afternoon. The day and location - purposeful. The message unequivocal. Hoosier hoist a cold one for liberty | News | tribstar.comTerre Haute Tribune Star all 2 news articles »

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Indiana's Libertarian Party 'drinking-in' to put lawmakers on tap for ... - Fox 59

The Libertarian Party of Arkansas submitted over 15,000 signatures on Monday to the Secretary of States office to try and qualify to be a new political party -- for the fourth election cycle in a row. The state has 30 days to certify at least 10,000 of the signatures are from registered Arkansas voters.

This initial hurdle, and the financial cost of signature drives, is often critiqued by Arkansas third parties. In order for a political party to retain Arkansas ballot access through the next election cycle a candidate for either governor or president has to garner at least three percent of the vote. Last year Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson fell just shy with 2.63 percent of the vote.

Despite falling short of that threshold in 2016, state Party Chair Michael Pakko said the Libertarian Party deserves to be thought of as competitive.

Last year the Libertarian Party was the only party to field candidates against incumbents in all four U.S. Congressional states. In state legislative races Libertarians provided the only opposition in nearly a third of all contested races, Pakko said at the Capitol, Moreover people are choosing to vote Libertarian. Across the four Congressional districts last year our candidates earned over 196,000 votes about 18.5 percent of the total.

The once all-powerful Democratic Party of Arkansas only fielded one Congressional candidate in the last election. But this year, bolstered by an impassioned base in the era of Trump, a growing number of Democrats are expressing interest in 2018 races.

Pakko said he expects Libertarians to be in more three-way races next election.

Its always nice to be the only opposition party. When the Democrats werent running in races last year that gave us a little bit bigger piece of the spotlight but we dont expect that to be the case, Pakko said, so well just take it as it comes.

No Arkansas Libertarians hold legislative, statewide, or federal offices. But that lack of experience isnt necessarily a negative to Pakko.

One of the things voters communicated in their election of Donald Trump was their willingness to pick someone for public office that didnt have previous experience, he said.

While certainly having experienced candidates would be helpful I dont think thats necessarily a handicap to have non-professional politicians, regular citizens running for office and I think voters will be receptive, said Pakko.

What matters most to voters, according to the Libertarian chair, is making government work.

The biggest issue that voters think about is the dysfunctional nature of government both at the state and national level, he said. Its a matter of the two political parties at loggerheads, constant gridlock, and wed like the voters in Arkansas to know there is another choice, another option.

For Pakko and most Libertarians making government work often means passing laws that peel back the role of government, If you believe that governments should protect the rights of the individual, that people should be able to live their lives however they see fit with minimal interference from the government, if you believe that freedom and prosperity flourish where markets are allowed to work and the U.S. is at peace with its neighbors in the world, then please consider joining the Libertarian Party.

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Arkansas Libertarians Submit Signatures To Be "New" Political Party - KUAR

Politics in plain English

A seven-part guide to the candidates running to be the next governor of Virginia.

Superlative: Most likely to be late to the party"

Cliff Hyra may have been the last candidate to join the Virginia gubernatorial race, but like all cool kids, he has the potential of using this newfound attention to get people talking about what really matters politics.

As you could imagine, running for a statewide election as the third party nominee can set you at a disadvantage from the get-go. Fortunately for Hyra, being an unopposed libertarian candidate means that he can take this time to find his edge and relax while his opponents vie for a space on the general election ballot this week.

Hyra is a patent attorney from Mechanicsville, Virginia, who is married with three young children and is expecting another in Aug. To him, this race is a unique opportunity, and he hopes to build on 2013 candidate Robert Sarvis' momentum.

"Rob Sarvis had one of the most successful campaigns in the history of third parties and libertarian parties, Hyra said. "He got about 150,000 votes which is about a 7 percent turnout. (This) is really within striking distance of 10 percent, which is the threshold where if we hit 10 percent we would have automatic ballot access."

In the past, third party candidates have been required to canvas for 10,000 signatures as a precursor to moving forward with their campaign, a costly measure of resources that is not required of the Republican or Democratic candidates.

Despite Hyra's admittedly brief introduction to state politics, he is unfailingly enthusiastic about his future plans and continues to demonstrate faith in his supporters.

"I think you have to run the race with the goal of winning and being the governor, Hyra said. "You know, we are going to do all the things that we can do to maximize the chances of winning. With that said, I am not a crazy person, so I understand that you know the chances are low. At the same time, last year we had a very unusual election and something happened that I didn't think could happen so you know, I am not ruling it out."

If elected, Hyra has addressed four key issues that he will work to resolve in his four-year term economic growth, education reform, justice reform and health care.

In essence, his strategies to achieve optimal success can be generally attributed to one traditional libertarian solution, deregulation. Most of his campaign hinges on the belief that fewer laws constricting peoples actions can do wonders for the economy, incarceration rates and the booming of businesses.

More specifically, Hyras economic proposal includes eliminating income tax of the first $50,000 and removing specific license requirements that cause businessmen and women to get tripped up on trivial tasks.

Currently Virginians are taxed $11,815.28 on $50,000. This proposed cut would likely benefit the middle class the most, but can still exhibit a positive change in tax returns for people of the state.

Involving improvements with the school system, Hyra boasts small-town research on charter schools in New York as a testament to the power of competition to bring forth greater student and parent satisfaction. He says that elected officials must put forth more effort to close the gap, beginning with the states own research.

I was lucky enough to go to some really great schools in Northern Virginia, but we also have some schools that are not doing as well in some places, Hyra said. There are schools that have been really failing the students for many years and you know to some extent there is only so much good that you can do by just throwing more money at the problem.

According to Hyra, legal punishment for victimless crimes is counterproductive, specifically involving marijuana and alcohol consumption.

Logically speaking, Hyra says that lessening criminal punishments for these kinds of crimes will save Virginia money, which spends on average approximately $25,000 a year to incarcerate a single person. In addition, this plan could help reduce racial profiling. Hyra says studies show that African Americans are equally as likely to commit these kinds of crimes as others, but are being sent to prison at much higher rates.

Finally, Hyra has promised to change the face of healthcare by tossing out laws like Virginias Certificate of Need and is looking for a way to expand the healthcare plan without further involving the government.

Cliff Hyra is an incredible candidate, Libertarian Party of Virginia Chair Bo Brown told Bearing Drift News. Hes brilliant. His wifes incredible. Theyve got this great family. Theyre a great representation of Virginians. Weve got to let a lot of our (voters) understand that there are other candidates out there. You dont have to stay stuck to one of those two old parties.

Because Hyra announced his campaign in late April and received the nomination in May, little has been said about his qualifications for this role by other important political figures or by his opponents who are preoccupied with their respective primaries on Tuesday, June 13.

Hyra is a Virginia Tech alumnus who majored in aerospace engineering before attending law school at George Mason.

Hyra says that most people may not know that he became interested in the art of advantage gambling during his time at Virginia Tech and used his computational prowess at Las Vegas casinos for fun.

Want to learn about more gubernatorial candidates? Click below to learn about Republican front-runner, Ed Gillespie.

Superlative: Most likely to take detailed notes

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Meet Cliff Hyra: The libertarian with a golden ticket to the general election - Virginia Tech Collegiate Times