Arizona Libertarian Party

History

1970s

On October 7, 1972, the organization meeting of the Arizona Libertarian Party was held at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. In 1972, the party had 35 dues paying members and held a state convention to plan on how to seek legal recognition as a party. In 1973, the party was organized and elected its party officials and by 1974, had grown to over 200 members.

In January 1975, the party announced that it would begin its first ballot access drive to collect the 11,044 signatures needed to gain ballot access for the 1976 elections and by June had submitted petitions with 9,913 signatures with plans to submit the remaining signatures later. However, the deadline for the signatures passed while state officials were counting the signatures, but the Libertarian Party was successful in gaining a court ordered extension to the deadline and were given ballot access after the counting of the signatures concluded on July 21.

The party's 1978 state convention was attended by Washington Post columnist Nicholas von Hoffman and former Republican representative Sam Steiger who addressed them on political fundraising. Under Arizona law at the time in order for a party to maintain political party recognition it would need to receive 5% of the total votes cast in an election and under that rule the party lost its recognition as it only received 1.4% of the total votes. The party filed a lawsuit against Arizona's ballot access laws to maintain party recognition, but officially lost its recognition on March 1, 1978, when the Arizona Supreme Court ruled 3–2 that Arizona's ballot access law was constitutional.

1980s

The national party's presidential candidate, Ed Clark, attended the party's 1979 and 1980 state conventions and offered support to their attempts to regain ballot access and to place a ballot measure to eliminate taxes placed on food or food products and to repeal Arizona's auto-emissions tests. Although the party was unsuccessful in placing their auto-emissions test repeal measures onto the ballot their food sales tax repeal was successful and removed the state's 4% sales tax on food products and were successful in regaining ballot access and placing Ed Clark onto the Arizona 1980 presidential ballot.

At their 1982 state convention Ed Clark addressed them for the third time, but announced that he would not seek the party's 1984 presidential nomination as to prevent it from becoming a cult of personality. The party had been struggling in their attempts to maintain ballot access with the difficulty of obtaining enough signatures to gain ballot access and gaining the 5% needed in a gubernatorial or presidential race to maintain it, but shortly before their state convention Sam Steiger, who had attended one of their previous conventions and had been sympathetic to the party since his failed 1976 Senate campaign, announced that he would run for governor as a Libertarian to help the party reach the 5% goal although he admitted that he had no chance of winning. In the 1982 gubernatorial election Steiger received more than the 5% vote after spending $6,000. This gave the party automatic ballot access for the 1984 elections.

Despite the fact that the party qualified for automatic ballot access at the state level due to a technicality the party was not qualified for automatic ballot access at the county level in Pima County as Stieger only received 4% of the vote there and an opinion by Attorney General Robert K. Corbin only gave them ballot access for Maricopa and Coconino counties. They attempted to appeal to the courts to have the law overturned, but were ruled against by the attorney general. The party hosted the 1985 National Convention for the national Libertarian Party in Phoenix.

In 1986, Ken Sturzenacker, the chairman of the party, resigned after the executive committee ousted him from his post after he was accused of spending money without authorization and for failing to collect enough signatures to gain ballot access for the 1986 elections. The party failed for the first time since 1974 to collect enough signatures to appear on the ballot after collecting less than the 20,000 signatures required. Due to their lack of ballot access the party was unable to field a gubernatorial candidate so for the 1986 gubernatorial election the party endorsed Evan Mecham in the race which he won.

1990s

In 1993, Tucson officials refused to give ballot access to a Libertarian attempting to run for city council as according to their signature requirement he would need 5% of the total number of votes for the previous Libertarian candidate regardless of what party they were registered to while the Arizona affiliate stated that it would only be 5% of all registered Libertarians in the city. The party appealed the decision to a superior court which ruled in their favor allowing their city council candidate to run.

In 1994, John Buttrick became the first Libertarian gubernatorial candidate to appear on the ballot in twelve years since Sam Stieger in 1982, after a successful ballot access drive by the party. Buttrick failed to meet the 5% requirement to get automatic ballot access, but the party was successful in other areas where they took 7% in the Senate race which was the best performance for a Libertarian nationally at the time, maintained ballot access in Pima County, and increased voter registration to almost 8,000 which brought them closer to the 14,000 that would give them automatic ballot access.

The Pima County Libertarian Party was disaffiliated with the Arizona party in 1996, after a legal dispute in 1995 over whether the Pima County or Maricopa County affiliate represented the statewide party, was due to them carrying out party elections against the orders of the state party which started a three-year legal dispute. The party missed the deadline for it to submit its eight presidential electors putting Harry Browne's presidential ballot access in Arizona at risk, but after a court appeal they were given access by a superior court. The party also saw its registered voter amount rise above the amount needed to become a recognized party in Arizona and would not have to submit petitions to gain ballot access.

In 1999, after a court ordered the Pima and Maricopa County affiliates to meet and elect officers in accordance with state law, which was ignored by the Maricopa affiliate causing a contempt of court motion, a new state chairman was elected and the Pima County Libertarian Party was re-affiliated with the state party.

2000s

Another legal dispute arouse during the 2000 presidential campaign when two different groups claimed to be the official Libertarian Party of Arizona. In early 2000, a superior court ruled that the group not recognized by the national Libertarian Party, the splinter group based in Tempe, was the official state party and gave it access to the voter list rather than the Tucson-based group recognized by the national party. Arizona continued its recognition of the Tempe faction when it gave the Libertarian presidential ballot access to author L. Neil Smith, who failed to win the national party's nomination. It was upheld after a lawsuit filed by the national party and Harry Browne who would be forced to file as independents, but due to the short time frame were unable to appear on the ballot.

In 2001, the Tempe group along with the Democratic and Republican parties of Arizona attempted to challenge election laws that dealt with the election of party officials, but were ruled against in appellate court. The Tempe Libertarians later filed a lawsuit to bar independents from voting in political party primaries and end Arizona's open primaries and won in federal district court, but the ruling was overturned in appeals court. The Tucson group at the same time lost its lawsuit to strike down Arizona's short filing period for independents that it filed during the 2000 presidential election.

During the 2004 presidential election the party filed a lawsuit stating that Arizona State University and the Commission on Presidential Debates were illegally using tax dollars to conduct a debate that excluded other presidential candidates. During the 2008 presidential election the Libertarian Party declined a government-financed presidential primary and instead held its own private primary online. Less than seventy voters participated in the private primary that was won by George Phillies.

2010s

In 2011, the Arizona Green and Libertarian parties filed a lawsuit due to the new voter registration card only including the two largest parties while all other parties would have to be written in, but the courts ruled in favor of Arizona. They attempted to have the U.S. District Court reconsider its decision and to bring the case to the Supreme Court, but both attempts failed.

The party struggled to field candidates in 2016 due to a dramatic increase in signature requirements by state Republicans to limit Libertarians on the ballot. However, Libertarian justice of the peace candidate Gregory Kelly was able to overcome the new signature requirements to get on the ballot, and achieved 25,356 votes (31.56%) in the Highland District race.

2020s

In 2022, the Libertarian party nominated Marc Victor (who had been their nominee in 2012 against Jeff Flake) in the 2022 United States Senate election in Arizona. Before the election took place, but after the names on the ballots had been finalized, Victor dropped out and endorsed Republican candidate Blake Masters. Marc Victor received 53,762 votes - 2.09% of the final total.

Elected officials

• Nathan Madden – School Board Member Buckeye Union High School District (2023–Present)

Electoral performance

Presidential

Gubernatorial

Senate Class I

Senate Class III

Voter registration

Notes

References

References

1. "Leadership".
2. (17 April 1982). "Libertarian party to host tenth convention here". Tucson Citizen.
3. "Voter Registration Statistics". Arizona Secretary of State Elections Bureau.
4. (October 5, 1972). "Libertarians to organize at Tempe meeting". Arizona Republic.
5. (October 22, 1972). "U.S. 'socialistic' trend denounced". Arizona Republic.
6. (18 October 1972). "Libertarian candidate plans talks". Arizona Republic.
7. (July 16, 1974). "Libertarian Party elects officers". Arizona Republic.
8. (24 January 1975). "Party seeks OK to put nominees on '76 ticket". Arizona Republic.
9. (24 June 1976). "Libertarians File Petitions To Join Ballot". Arizona Daily Star.
10. (9 July 1976). "Libertarians File Petitions To Join Ballot". Arizona Daily Sun.
11. (10 July 1976). "200 Hopefuls File For State Primary". Arizona Daily Sun.
12. (15 July 1976). "Court starts hearing on November-ballot spot for Libertarian Party". Arizona Republic.
13. (22 July 1976). "Libertarians Certified For State Ballots". Arizona Daily Star.
14. (1 February 1978). "Libertarian convention plans made". Arizona Republic.
15. (2 March 1978). "Libertarians lose status". Arizona Daily Star.
16. (17 October 1979). "President Candidate To Visit Libertarians". Arizona Daily Sun.
17. (22 May 1979). "Libertarian Party Starts Food Tax Amendment Campaign". Arizona Daily Sun.
18. (6 May 1980). "Libertarian candidate to speak in Scottsdale". Arizona Republic.
19. (6 June 1980). "Libertarians File Petitions". Arizona Daily Sun.
20. (23 July 1980). "Emissions-test foes fail". Arizona Republic.
21. (18 June 1980). "Phoenix drops its food sales tax". Tucson Citizen.
22. (25 April 1982). "Libertarian rejects presidential race". Arizona Republic.
23. (26 May 1982). "New Libertarian Steiger may run for governor". Arizona Daily Star.
24. (26 May 1982). "Ex-Rep. Steiger may seek governorship as Libertarian". Arizona Republic.
25. Nolan, David. (December 1982). "Colorado LP Vote Resists Nationwide Downtrend". Colorado Liberty.
26. (29 June 1984). "Libertarians accuse Bahill, Corbin of keeping them off ballot unfairly". Arizona Daily Star.
27. (29 June 1984). "Ruling has Libertarisn off ballot". Tucson Citizen.
28. (11 August 1985). "'Feisty bunch' of Libertarians to hold convention in Phoenix". Arizona Daily Star.
29. (10 June 1986). "Chairman of Arizona Libertarian Party Resigns". Arizona Daily Sun.
30. (10 June 1986). "Arizona's Libertarian chairman resigns". Arizona Republic.
31. (16 June 1986). "Ballot Bid Falls Short". Arizona Republic.
32. (October 22, 1986). "Libertarians back Mecham". Arizona Republic.
33. (22 June 1993). "Libertarians sue over signature rule". Tucson Citizen.
34. (9 July 1993). "Libertarians plan a second trip to court". Tucson Citizen.
35. (29 June 1994). "Libertarians submit petitions to join Nov. ballot". Arizona Daily Star.
36. (11 November 1994). "Libertarians view 1994 election with mixed emotions". Tucson Citizen.
37. (20 July 1996). "Success leads to strife". Arizona Republic.
38. (12 July 1996). "Libertarians miss deadline, risk spot on Arizona ballot". Arizona Republic.
39. (17 August 1996). "Libertarian presidential hopeful granted spot on Arizona ballot". Arizona Republic.
40. (10 August 1996). "Election season is upon us, so become a voter, then vote". Arizona Republic.
41. (7 May 1999). "Elections finally put party at peace". Tucson Citizen.
42. "2000 United States Senate election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
43. (29 January 2000). "Libertarians may quit state primary". Arizona Republic.
44. (16 September 2000). "Arizona Libertarians split over top of ticket". Arizona Daily Star.
45. (24 September 2000). "Libertarian candidate kicked off ballot". Arizona Daily Sun.
46. (17 August 2001). "Judge quashes parties' bid to shed state regulations". Arizona Daily Star.
47. (30 March 2002). "Libertarians push to restrict ballots". Arizona Daily Star.
48. (6 August 2002). "Federal judge rules open primaries are unconstitutional". Tucson Citizen.
49. (8 August 2002). "Welcome ruling returns a basic voting right". Arizona Republic.
50. (25 May 2002). "State High Court upholds filing deadline for independent candidates". Arizona Daily Sun.
51. (1 October 2004). "Libertarians to sue over debate snub". Arizona Republic.
52. (December 4, 2007). "Arizona Libertarian Party Declines Having Presidential Primary". [[Ballot Access News]].
53. (March 6, 2008). "Arizona Libertarian Private Presidential Primary". [[Ballot Access News]].
54. (February 6, 2008). "Libertarian Presidential Primaries". [[Ballot Access News]].
55. (29 December 2011). "Arizona Libertarians and Greens Sue Over Discriminatory Voter Registration Form".
56. Fischer, Howard. (2 May 2013). "Judge: Registration form does not discriminate".
57. (22 May 2013). "U.S. District Court Denies Reconsideration in Arizona Voter Registration Lawsuit".
58. (11 January 2016). "U.S. Supreme Court Won't Hear Libertarian-Green Case over Discriminatory Voter Registration Forms".
59. Services, Howard Fischer Capitol Media. (April 17, 2016). "Libertarians want Arizona's election signature law voided".
60. Maricopa County. (8 November 2016). "Summary Report Maricopa County Final Results".
61. (November 1, 2022). "Libertarian Candidate Drops Out of Arizona Senate Race and Endorses Masters".
62. (November 2022). "Arizona's Libertarian Senate Candidate Quits and Endorses Masters". Bloomberg.com.
63. (November 1, 2022). "Libertarian Senate candidate Marc Victor drops out of race". ABC 15 Arizona.
64. "2022 General Election Statewide Canvass".
65. "Elected Officials".
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77. "2020 presidential election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
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81. "1986 gubernatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
82. "1990 gubernatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
83. "1994 gubernatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
84. "1998 gubernatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
85. "2002 gubernatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
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87. "2010 gubernatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
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89. "2018 gubernatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
90. "1976 senatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
91. "1982 senatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
92. "1988 senatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
93. "1994 senatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
94. "2000 senatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
95. "2006 senatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
96. "2012 senatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
97. "2018 senatorial election results". [[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]].
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105. (23 November 1980). "Arizona Registered Voters 1980".
106. (2 November 1982). "Arizona Registered Voters 1982".
107. (1 October 1988). "Arizona Registered Voters 1988".
108. (1 October 1990). "Arizona Registered Voters 1990".
109. (1 October 1992). "Arizona Registered Voters 1992".
110. (1 October 1994). "Arizona Registered Voters 1994".
111. (1 October 1996). "Arizona Registered Voters 1996".
112. (3 November 1998). "Arizona Registered Voters 1998".
113. (1 October 1999). "Arizona Registered Voters 1999".
114. (7 November 2000). "Arizona Registered Voters 2000".
115. (1 November 2001). "Arizona Registered Voters 2001".
116. (5 November 2002). "Arizona Registered Voters 2002".
117. (1 October 2003). "Arizona Registered Voters 2003".
118. (2 November 2004). "Arizona Registered Voters 2004".
119. (1 October 2005). "Arizona Registered Voters 2005".
120. (7 November 2006). "Arizona Registered Voters 2006".
121. (1 October 2007). "Arizona Registered Voters 2007".
122. (4 November 2008). "Arizona Registered Voters 2008".
123. (1 November 2009). "Arizona Registered Voters 2009".
124. (2 November 2010). "Arizona Registered Voters 2010".
125. (1 November 2011). "Arizona Registered Voters 2011".
126. (6 November 2012). "Arizona Registered Voters 2012".
127. (1 October 2013). "Arizona Registered Voters 2013".
128. (4 November 2014). "Arizona Registered Voters 2014".
129. (1 October 2015). "Arizona Registered Voters 2015".
130. (8 November 2016). "Arizona Registered Voters 2016".
131. (1 October 2017). "Arizona Registered Voters 2017".
132. (6 November 2018). "Arizona Registered Voters 2018".
133. (1 July 2019). "Arizona Registered Voters 2019".