Let’s see – you are thinking about running for office, but you really can’t decide if your views are more in line with the Democrats or Republicans, or you can’t really side with the Libertarian philosophy and the Constitution party’s views are just not your cup of tea.

Those are your four choices in the Montana – if you want to be labeled with a political tag when you run for elective office.

To say the least, it is tough for “outsiders” here in Montana to run for political office.  By using the word “outsider’ I mean someone who is not affiliated with any of the four major political parties:  Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Constitution.

I think that is just the way they like it – at least the big two (Democrats and Republicans) do.

Before you prepare your announcement speech, you might want to read on…

The Montana Secretary of State’s website has plenty of information for all those who are thinking of running for public office.  They have the dates, the forms, and everything a prospective candidate would need to run for office (except a place to print money for your candidacy).

What is really a downer is there are more hoops to jump through if you don’t want to be cornered (or branded) with the label of a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Constitution party member.

According to the Montana Secretary of State’s website:

Political parties must meet certain statutory requirements in order to nominate candidates for the ballot in Montana. A party automatically qualifies for the ballot if it had a candidate for statewide office in either of the last two general elections and that candidate received a total number of votes that was 5 percent or more of the total number of votes cast for the successful candidate for governor.
If a political party does not meet that requirement, it may qualify to nominate its candidates by circulating a petition requesting a primary election. The petition must be in a form prescribed by the Secretary of State.

Did you get all that?

So, if you call yourself “independent” and if you want to run as “just yourself” you must read:

Oath of Candidacy and Petition for Nomination for Independent, Minor Party or Indigent Candidates

Then it’s a must that you read the information about:

Independent, Minor Party, or Indigent Candidate

Then, there’s this little thing about a petition.  Let’s say you want to run for the U.S. House of Representatives this year.  You’ll need to gather at least 15,424 signatures just to get on the ballot.

But, if it’s just a State Senate or State House seat, you’ll need to read the attachments and find out how may signatures you’ll need to run.   For State Senate, you would need to gather around 130 to 355 signatures depending on the district, and in the State House you would need to gather around 54 up to 272 signatures, again depending on the district.

By now, you’re probably thinking “Great googly moogly!”

There are just too many hoops to jump through for a genuine “independent” candidate to run for office here in Montana, but don’t count on it changing in the near future.

Yes, there should be some requirements for candidates who decide to run for office and who do not align themselves with one of the four parties, but gathering hundreds or even thousands of signatures should not be one of the requirements – all because you don’t align yourself with one of the four political clubs here in Montana.