NASHVILLE - A federal judge has found Tennessee's requirements are too burdensome for third parties to get on the ballot and they violate the First Amendment.
Third parties seeking to run statewide candidates must currently submit a petition signed by 2.5 percent of the voters in the previous governor's election, or about 45,500 signatures. The petition must be submitted at least four months before the election, and the signatures must come from people who are members of the party they want to see on the ballot.
U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes Jr. ruled this week that the 2.5 percent standard meets constitutional standards, but becomes too much when combined with the deadline and party membership requirements.
Haynes called the party membership requirement an "invasion of the voter's privacy," and said it was irrelevant that the state does not currently enforce that aspect of the law.
"The chilling effects of the statute arise because to sign the minor political party's petition for ballot access as a statewide political party requires the voter to join or to be a member of that party," Haynes wrote.
Haynes noted that Tennessee and Oklahoma are the only states where third parties have failed to qualify for the ballot over the last decade.
The lawsuit was filed by the Green, Libertarian, and Constitution parties of Tennessee in January 2008.
The ruling will go into effect after this November's election, Haynes said. That means the Legislature will have time to address the ballot qualification laws before the next election in 2012.
Candidates need only 25 signatures to qualify for the ballot, but they are only listed as independents if they aren't members of the Democratic or Republican parties.
The state Legislature in 1961 for the first time set a qualifying threshold for new statewide parties, according to the ruling. Previously any party could have their candidates listed on the ballot if they held nominating conventions. Candidates from the Constitution and Prohibition parities joined Democrats and Republicans on the ballot in 1960.
Only George Wallace's American Party qualified in 1968 and 1972 since the threshold laws went into effect. A special law in 2000 allowed the presidential candidates of the Libertarian, Reform and Green parties have their parties identified, but they were still listed under an "independent" heading.
Donn Janes, who is running as a tea party candidate in the 8th Congressional District, said he is at a disadvantage because he will only be listed as an independent when voters go the polls.
"If tea party was on the ballot, it would make a huge difference," he said.