Can anybody tell me more about Oklahoma's ballot access law? No third party candidate was on the ballot in 2004, and this will be the case again in 2008.
Why is it so strict? How exactly does the law operate? Could a third party candidate ever gain access under the current requirements? What was the reason for its introduction?
Hard to get on the ballot, hard to stay on the ballot, so even it party gets enough signatures to get on the ballot, they have to do it again at the next election. Oklahoma also has party registration, and when a party gets zapped they lose all their registered voters. And then prospective members may not be sure whether the party will regain ballot status, so may register as Democrat or Republican in order to vote in a primary.
Rural areas and the South tend not to be fertile areas for 3rd parties. In most of the South, the Democratic primary served as the equivalent of a general election, so people may be registered as Democrats by tradition rather than any political ideology. Being a Republican is somewhat like being a member of a 3rd party elsewhere.
