With attention focused on the Republican and Democratic primaries in several states that could potentially decide their nominations, two states will be having Libertarian presidential preference primaries on Tuesday, March 15: North Carolina and Missouri.
Voters who are registered as either Libertarian or unaffiliated can vote in the semi-open North Carolina Libertarian primary, where the following 11 candidates will be on the ballot:
Gary Johnson
Marc Allan Feldman
John David Hale
Cecil Ince
Steve Kerbel
Darryl Perry
Austin Petersen
Derrick Reid
Jack Robinson
Rhett Smith
Barbara Joy Waymire
All Missouri voters can participate in the open primary, where these options will appear on the Libertarian ballot:
Marc Allan Feldman
Cecil Ince
Steve Kerbel
Austin Petersen
Rhett Smith
[Uncommitted]
These will be the two state-run Libertarian presidential primaries held prior to the Libertarian National Convention (May 26-30). California will hold a Libertarian primary in early June, however this will be after the party has selected its nominee. Some candidates will not appear on one or both ballots, due to early deadlines, including Gary Johnson in MO, and John McAfee in both MO and NC. The primaries in North Carolina and Missouri are purely non-binding, and play no role in the selection of delegates to the national convention, who then pick the nominee.
Looking forward to the day when a conventional is held by independent parties to select the best possible indpendent President
And VP.
The Missouri Libertarian primary doesn’t quite rise to the level of “beauty contest,” for the simple reason that very few people vote in it and that most of those who do are not necessarily committed Libertarian voters. Missouri has an “open primary” — on election day, you can choose any one party’s ballot, regardless of what party you may usually vote for or be affiliated with. And it’s a fair bet that most people grabbing an LP ballot are doing so for other reasons than a strong feeling of affinity with the LP or its platform.
Unofficial results as of a little after 7am:
Austin Petersen Libertarian 851 29.365%
Steven Elliott (Steve) Kerbel Libertarian 401 13.837%
Rhett Rosenquest Smith Libertarian 99 3.416%
Cecil Ince Libertarian 134 4.624%
Marc Allan Feldman Libertarian 241 8.316%
Uncommitted Libertarian 1,172 40.442%
Party Total: 2,898
One of the GOOD signs about that result, other than that “uncommitted” beat Peterson in his own state, is that more than three times as many people voted in the LP presidential primary this year than in 2012. It will be very nice if that multiplier carries over to the general election.
That too, I forget that.
sounds legit… LOL
Steve,
There are only 5 candidates, on the MO ballot because access cost $1,000 or 5,000 signatures on petitions.
And why isn’t this a headliner on CNN and Fox?
I thought they slobbered all over primary results…
It explains that in the post. Others entered the race after the mid-December deadline to be listed in MO.
Does anyone know why only 5 candidates were on the ballot in Missouri?
Our ballot deadline is May 27th.
According to the Missouri SOS vote tracker, here are the results thus far for the LP ballots. Wicked early though as only 1% of precincts reporting in so far.
Austin Petersen Libertarian 11… 18.966%
Steven Elliott (Steve) Kerbel Libertarian 5… 8.621%
Rhett Rosenquest Smith Libertarian 1… 1.724%
Cecil Ince Libertarian 3… 5.172%
Marc Allan Feldman Libertarian 3… 5.172%
Uncommitted Libertarian 35… 60.345%
Party Total: 58
Anyone know what the ballot appearance order was in North Carolina?
Live results here: http://er.ncsbe.gov/?election_dt=03/15/2016&county_id=0&office=FED&contest=0
With ~9% reporting, it’s Johnson in 1st, followed by No Preference, with the rest in single-digits.
Any word on the North Carolina results yet? Twitter isn’t offering much.
@ Wes
My understanding is that will be after Orlando, and it hasn’t been formalized yet. No?
If only we could forget Oregon.
You forgot the Oregon primary.
Have ANY of the candidates campaigned in either state, other than attending the obligatory state convention?
Have any of the candidates done so much as send a news release to the media in said states?
Is this the sort of campaign we can expect nationwide for the general election?
PEACE