By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Libertarians will continue to be an established political party in Missouri, thanks to their performance in this month's election.
Both Libertarian candidates for U.S. Senate and State Auditor got more than 2% of the vote, which is the threshold for being an established party.
"If you do not have ballot access then you have to do massive petition drives to be allowed to be on the ballot and that's very expensive," noted Darla Maloney, the chairwoman of the Missouri Libertarian Party. "And for third parties it's usually a very hard feat to achieve."
Maloney says her party has maintained the 2% threshold since 1992.
The Green Party also gained established party status this year in Illinois by getting the 5% of the vote needed in that state.