United States third-party and independent presidential candidates, 2016

United States third party and independent presidential candidates, 2016

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2016 U.S. presidential election
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This article contains lists of official and potential third party and independent candidates associated with the 2016 United States presidential election.

"Third party" is a term commonly used in the United States in reference to political parties other than the two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. An independent candidate is one who runs for office with no formal party affiliation.

Ballot access in states holding 270 or more electoral votes represents a majority of the 538 electoral votes in the Electoral College. The number of electoral votes for which a party or independent candidate has secured ballot access may increase as those parties or candidates complete their petitions, and filings for ballot access, until September 2016 when the last petition deadlines occur.^[1]

According to the Green Papers website, 31 people were on the ballot in at least one state, while 192, including those who were on ballots in some states, obtained recognition as official "write-in" candidates.^[2]

Summary[edit]

2016 U.S. Presidential Election Results
for candidates that got at least 1000 votes or were on at least one state ballot

State	Hillary Clinton	Donald Trump	Gary Johnson	Jill Stein	Evan McMullin	Darrell Castle	Bernie Sanders	Gloria La Riva	Rocky De La Fuente	Richard Duncan	Dan Vacek	Alyson Kennedy	Mike Smith	Chris Keniston	Mike Maturen	Lynn Kahn	James Hedges	Tom Hoefling	Monica Moorehead	Peter Skewes	L. Kotlikoff	Rocky Giordani	Emidio Soltysik	Scott Copeland	Kyle Kopitike	Joseph Maldonado	Rod Silva	Kadijah Jacob	Ryan Scott	Jerry White	Bradford Lyttle	Frank Atwood	undisclosed write-ins	Source
	Democratic	Republican	Libertarian	Green		Constitution		Socialism and Liberation	Reform		Legal Marijuana Now	Socialist Workers		Veterans	American Solidarity		Prohibition	America's	Workers World	American		Independent American	Socialist	Constitution Idaho			Nutrition	Revolu- tionary		Socialist Equality	US Pacifist	Approval Voting
Alabama	729,547	1,318,255	44,467	9,391																													21,712	[3]
Alaska	116,454	163,387	18,725	5,735		3,866			1,240																								9,201	[4]
Arizona	1,161,167	1,252,401	106,327	34,345																														[5]
Arkansas	380,494	684,872	13,255	9,473		4,613										3,390	4,709																	[6]
California	8,753,788	4,483,810	478,500	278,657	39,596		79,341	66,101							1,316															84				[7]
Colorado	1,338,870	1,202,484	144,121	38,437	28,917	11,699		531	1,255			452	1,819	5,028	862		185	710			392		271		1,096	872	751		749		382	337		[8]
Connecticut	897,572	673,215	48,676	22,841	2,108	147		41	12				12					31		4	23					4								[9]
Delaware	221,608	175,162	14,045	5,868																														[10]
Florida	4,504,975	4,617,886	207,043	64,399		16,475			9,108	25											74													[11]
Georgia	1,877,963	2,089,104	125,306	7,674	13,017	1,110							53		151			70			34												284	[12]
Hawaii	266,891	128,847	15,954	12,737		4,508																												[13]
Idaho	189,765	409,055	28,331	8,496	46,476	4,403			1,373															2,356										[14]
Illinois	3,090,729	2,146,015	209,596	76,802	11,655	1,138												175			82					20								[15]
Indiana	1,033,126	1,557,286	133,993	7,841		1,413			21	25								269			49		57											[16]
Iowa	653,669	800,983	59,186	11,479	12,366	5,355		323	451		2,246					2,247																	17,746	[17]
Kansas	427,005	671,018	55,406	23,506	6,520	646		7	3				6		214	2	3	45																[18]
Kentucky	628,854	1,202,971	53,752	13,913	22,780	438			1,128	2			9	22	155			39			8					2				4				[19]
Louisiana	780,154	1,178,638	37,978	14,031	8,547	3,129		446				480		1,881				1,581			1,048							749		370				[20]
Maine	357,735	335,593	38,105	14,251	1,887	333															16													[21]
Maryland	1,677,928	943,169	79,605	35,945	9,630	566		48	14	18			13		504	18	5	42			73		6			12				11			33,263	[22]
Massachusetts	1,995,196	1,090,893	138,018	47,661	2,719														15		28												50,488	[23]
Michigan	2,268,839	2,279,543	172,136	51,463	8,177	16,139									517			95	30		87		2,209											[24]
Minnesota	1,367,716	1,322,951	112,972	36,985	53,076	9,456		12	1,431	1	11,291	1,672	3	31	244			28			17		15											[25]
Mississippi	485,131	700,714	14,435	3,731		3,987			644								715																	[26]
Missouri	1,071,068	1,594,511	97,359	25,419	7,071	13,092			6									48			87													[27]
Montana	177,709	279,240	28,037	7,970	2,297	296			1,570				1					10			7		1											[28]
Nebraska	273,185	485,372	37,577	8,337																														[29]
Nevada	539,260	512,058	37,384			5,268			2,552																									[30]
New Hampshire	348,526	345,790	30,777	6,496	1,064		4,493		678																								2,411	[31]
New Jersey	2,148,278	1,601,933	72,477	37,772		6,161		1,682	1,838			2,156							1,749															[32]
New Mexico	385,234	319,666	74,541	9,879	5,825	1,514		1,184	475																									[33]
New York	4,665,740	3,078,946	174,951	106,995	9,326	801		147	30					84	409	72		127	65				34										47,602	[34]
North Carolina	2,189,316	2,362,631	130,126	12,105																													47,386	[35]
North Dakota	93,758	216,794	21,434	3,780		1,833			364																								6,397	[36]
Ohio	2,394,164	2,841,005	174,498	46,271	12,574	1,887				24,235			62	114	552			268	19		90					18								[37]
Oklahoma	420,375	949,136	83,481																															[38]
Oregon	1,002,106	782,403	94,231	50,002																													72,594	[39]
Pennsylvania	2,926,441	2,970,733	146,715	49,941		21,572																												[40]
Rhode Island	252,525	180,543	14,746	6,220	773	52	3,497	8	671					6	34			7															9,439	[41][42]
South Carolina	855,373	1,155,389	49,204	13,034	21,016	5,765														3,246														[43]
South Dakota	117,442	227,701	20,845			4,059																												[44]
Tennessee	870,695	1,522,925	70,397	15,993	11,991	1,584			4,075			2,877	7,276					132			20													[45]
Texas	3,877,868	4,685,047	283,492	71,558	42,366	4,261									1,401			932	122		1,037		72											[46]
Utah	310,674	515,211	39,608	9,438	243,685	8,032			872			521							544			2,732												[47]
Vermont	178,573	95,369	10,078	6,758	629	63	18,218	327	1,063				1		19																		3,959	[48]
Virginia	1,981,473	1,769,443	118,274	27,638	54,054																												31,870	[49]
Washington	1,539,287	1,063,835	134,096	46,872		14,565		2,779				3,583																						[50]
Washington, D.C.	282,830	12,723	4,906	4,258																													6,551	[51]
West Virginia	188,794	489,371	23,004	8,075		3,807																												[52]
Wisconsin	1,382,536	1,405,284	106,674	31,072	11,855	12,162			1,502					67	284			80	1,770		15		33			4							22,764	[53]
Wyoming	55,973	174,419	13,287	2,515		2,042			709																								6,904	[54]
TOTAL	65,734,379	63,065,730	4,442,131	1,444,059	691,997	198,217	105,549	73,636	33,085	24,306	13,537	11,741	9,255	7,233	6,662	5,729	5,617	4,689	4,314	3,250	3,128	2,732	2,698	2,356	1,096	932	751	749	749	469	382	337	390,571
PLACE	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	28	30	31	32

Candidates[edit]

Gary Johnson, Libertarian Party[edit]

Ballot access: The Libertarian ticket was on all 51 ballots.^[55]

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
Gary Johnson (Campaign)	Governor of New Mexico, 1995–2003 Libertarian Party presidential nominee, 2012	New Mexico	May 29, 2016[56]	William Weld of Massachusetts
Other parties	National Total	National percentage	highest single state total	highest single state percentage
Independence Party of New York	4,489,233	3.3%	402,452 (3.4%) California	74,031 (8.3%) New Mexico

Nationally, Johnson captured 5 percent or more of the vote in eight states: New Mexico, North Dakota, Alaska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Maine.

Poll Standings[edit]

All major polling outfits have included Johnson in their published results. His highest total was 13% in a CNN/ORC poll taken in July. Since then he has generally been in the upper single digits, breaking 10% as recently as October 10 in a Politico/Morning Consult poll.

His greatest statewide percentage was in his home state of New Mexico, where he reached the mid-twenties in September, and has since fallen back into the teens. He has been in the teens in several other state polls, most recently in a WBUR/MassINC poll taken in New Hampshire on November 1.

Party nomination contest[edit]

There were six primaries, Gary Johnson received 22,642 votes while none of the others received as much as 4 thousand.

Libertarian National Convention Presidential vote, 2016 [57]
Candidate	First Ballot	Percentage	Second Ballot	Percentage
Gary Johnson	458	49.5%	518	55.8%
Austin Petersen	197	21.3%	203	21.9%
John McAfee	131	14.2%	131	14.1%
Darryl Perry	63	6.8%	52	5.6%
Marc Allan Feldman	58	6.3%	18	1.9%
Kevin McCormick	9	1.0%	1 (write-in)	0.1%
None of the above	5	0.5%	2	0.2%
Ron Paul (Write-in)	1	0.1%
Vermin Supreme (Write-in)	1	0.1%
Heidi Zemen (Write-in)	1	0.1%
Derrick Grayson (Write-in)	1	0.1%	1	0.1%
Michael Shannon (Write-in)			1	0.1%
Rhett Smith (Write-in)			1	0.1%
Totals	928	100%

Jill Stein, Green Party[edit]

Ballot access (Write-in included): 47 states + DC

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
Jill Stein (Campaign)	Lexington Town Meeting member (2005–2011) Green Party presidential nominee, 2012	Massachusetts	August 6, 2016	Ajamu Baraka of Washington, D.C.
National Total	National percentage	highest single state total	highest single state percentage	notes
1,457,222	1.1%	278,657 (1.9%) California	12,737 (3.0%) Hawaii	This is the first fourth-place finisher to breach the one million mark since 1948

Poll standings[edit]

All major polling outfits have included Stein in their published results. Her highest total was 6% in McClatchy/Marist poll taken early August. Since then her highest total was 4% in a CBS/New York Times poll taken in late October. She generally stands at 2 or 3%.

In statewide polling she has gotten as high as 7% in an Emmerson college poll from Vermont in September.

Party nomination contest[edit]

Five additional candidates sought the Green Party nomination.^[58][59][60]

Green National Convention Presidential Roll call vote, 2016[61]
Candidate	First Ballot	Percentage
Jill Stein	233.5	81.6%
William Kreml	18.25	6.4%
Sedinam Curry	14.5	5.1%
Darryl Cherney	8.5	3.0%
Kent Mesplay	7.5	2.6%
Elijah Manley	3.25	1.1%
No candidate	0.5	0.2%
Totals	286	100%
Turnout	286	71.1%

Evan McMullin, Better for America Group and others[edit]

The anti-Donald Trump Better for America PAC recruited Even McMullin as a candidate for president. He is on the ballot in 11 states and has write-in access for many more.

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Vice presidential candidate	Notes
Evan McMullin (Campaign)	Chief Policy Director for the House Republican Conference, 2015–2016 CIA agent, 2001–2011	Utah	August 8, 2016[62]	Mindy Finn of the District of Columbia[63]	See also: Better for America A (as Independence Party of Minnesota nominee) Nathan Johnson, a resident of San Diego, appears as McMullin's running mate on numerous state ballots.[64][65]
Other parties	National Total	National percentage	highest single state total	highest single state percentage
Independence party of South Carolina Independence party of Minnesota	731,709 [66]	0.4%	233,266 (21.4%) (Utah)	233,266 (21.4%) (Utah)	Aside from his large total in Utah, the ticket came in third in Idaho, and fourth in seven of the nine other states where it was on the ballot.

Darrell Castle, Constitution Party[edit]

Electoral votes: 207 (Scott Copeland has access to 4 electoral votes in Idaho, where Castle is on the ballot as an independent^[67])

Write-in included: 406

Ballot access: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.^{[68][69][70][71]}
Write-in access: Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia.^[69]

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
Darrell Castle	Attorney, Constitution Party vice presidential nominee, 2008	Tennessee	April 16, 2016[72][73]	Scott N. Bradley of Utah
Other parties	National Total	National percentage	highest single state total	highest single state percentage
Taxpayer's Party Michigan	203,069	0.1%	21,010 (0.4%) Pennsylvania	3,311 (1.2%) Alaska

Poll standings[edit]

Castle has not been featured in any national polls. However he was listed in a few in Utah in August and September, where he got as much as 2%, and in Nevada, where he got 1%.

Nomination contest[edit]

The 2016 Presidential Nominating Convention was held in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 13–16.^[74]

Constitution Party National Convention presidential vote, 2016[75][76]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Notes
Darrell Castle	184	54.2%	received 181,741 votes (0.1%) in the general election
Scott Copeland (Texas)[77]	103.5	30.5%	On the ballot in Idaho as the Constitution Party's presidential nominee,[78]
Tom Hoefling[79]	19	5.6%	Sought 2016 American Independent Party presidential nomination American Independent Party presidential nominee, 2012 America's Party presidential nominee, 2012, 2016
Daniel Cummings (Wyoming)[80]	9	2.7%
J.R. Myers (Alaska)	9	2.7%	Sought 2016 American Independent Party presidential nomination, on the ballot in Idaho as the Constitution Party's vice-presidential nominee,[81]
Don Grundmann (California)[82]	6	1.8%	Sought 2008 and 2012 Constitution Party presidential nomination
John Diamond (Pennsylvania)[83]	5	1.5%
Jeremy Friedbaum (Utah)[84]	4	1.2%
Totals	339.5	100.0%

Gloria La Riva, multiple parties[edit]

Electoral votes: 80 (Gloria LaRiva has a combined 135 electoral votes via the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Peace and Freedom Party, and the Liberty Union Party)

Ballot access: California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Vermont, Washington^[85][86]

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee	Notes
Gloria La Riva	Newspaper printer and activist Peace and Freedom Party presidential nominee, 2016, Party for Socialism and Liberation presidential nominee, 2008 Workers World Party presidential nominee, 1992	New Mexico	July 2015[87]	Eugene Puryear of Washington, D.C.[87]| Dennis Banks of Minnesota (in CA only)[88]	Appeared on the Vermont ballot as the Liberty Union Party ticket[89] Puryear is Constitutionally ineligible to serve as Vice President – under age 35 Banks appeared as the vice-presidential candidate on the Peace and Freedom ticket in California.
State parties	National Total	National percentage	Peace and Freedom Total	other party total
Party for Socialism and Liberation Peace and Freedom (California) Liberty Union (Vermont).	74,405	0.1%	53,133	7,857

Party for Socialism and Liberation[edit]

La Riva is on the ballot in numerous states under this banner and as an independent.

Liberty Union Party (Vermont)[edit]

La Riva won the primary in Vermont and thus was awarded the ballot line there.

La Riva participated in the Free and Equal presidential debate.

Peace and Freedom Party[edit]

La Riva won the primary in California and thus was awarded the ballot line at the state convention. Jill Stein, who was on the Green party primary ballot was removed from the PF one.

California Peace and Freedom presidential primary, June 7, 2016[90]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Con. Vote
Gloria Estela La Riva	2,232	49%	56
Monica Moorehead	1,369	30%	12
Lynn Sandra Kahn	963	21%	1
Jill Stein	(disqualified)	0%	9
Total	4,564	100%	78

Rocky De La Fuente, American Delta and Reform Parties, plus others[edit]

Electoral votes: 147 (De La Fuente has access to a combined 147 electoral votes as an Independent, via The American Delta Party and via The Reform Party)^[91][92]

Write-In included: 346 Electors^[91][92]

Anticipated Write-In Included: 404 Electors

Ballot access:

Under the ballot label "Reform Party" Florida

Under the ballot label "American Delta Party":^[93] Colorado,^[94] Iowa,^[95] Louisiana,^[96] Minnesota,^[97] Mississippi,^[98] New Jersey,^[99] New Mexico.^[100]

As an independent: Alaska,^[101] Idaho,^[102] Kentucky,^[103] Montana,^[104] Nevada,^[105] New Hampshire,^[106] North Dakota,^[107] Rhode Island^[108] Tennessee,^[109] Utah,^[102] Vermont,^[110] Wisconsin,^[111] Wyoming.^[112]

Write-In:^[113] Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Virginia, Kansas, West Virginia, Washington. Total 199 Electors

Anticipated Write-In:^[113] Connecticut, Missouri, South Dakota

No Ballot Access 2016: Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina.

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Vice presidential nominee	Notes
Rocky De La Fuente	Businessman	Florida	July 19, 2016[114]	Michael Steinberg of Florida	Received 67,457 votes in the Democratic presidential primary Ran for the Democratic United States Senate nomination in Florida, 2016
State parties	National Total	National percentage	highest single state total	highest single state percentage
American Delta Reform	33,136	0%	9,101 (0.1%) Florida	1,063 (0.3%) Vermont

Poll Standings[edit]

In August and September, Suffolk University did polling listing De la Fuente in Nevada. He got only 1%.

American Delta party nomination[edit]

The American Delta Party is an organization specifically created to support De La Fuente's independent candidacy.

Reform party nomination[edit]

The Reform Party recognized the following other candidates as seeking its presidential nomination^[115] The vote totals nominating De La Fuente were never released.

Name	Notes
Ed Chlapowski[115]	Owner/manager at Opportunity Resolution
Kenneth Cross[115]	Semi-retired engineer and businessman Reform Party vice-presidential nominee, 2012
Lynn Kahn[115]	Doctor of clinical psychology Sought 2016 Peace and Freedom Party presidential nomination. Will appear on Arkansas and Iowa ballot.
Darcy Richardson[115]	Historian and writer 2012 Democratic Party presidential hopeful. received 41,730 in the primary[116]

Richard Duncan, Independent[edit]

Name	State	Vice presidential nominee	national vote total	ballot access.
Richard Duncan	Ohio	Ricky Johnson	24,308 (0%)	18 (173) Ohio[117] (Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia)

Bernie Sanders[edit]

Several grassroots campaigns to elect Bernie Sanders President as a write-in candidate were established on social media in the run-up to the United States presidential election. Though Sanders continued to campaign for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, supporters pointed to alleged DNC bias in the Democratic Party's presidential primaries against Sanders, and Clinton's email scandal, and continued to support him.^[118] Both Clinton and Donald Trump would have had to win less than the required 270 electoral college votes for Sanders to have denied either candidate the presidency, and for the election to be passed to the House of Representatives - thus the initial write-in campaign around Vermont, offering only 3 college votes, was unsuccessful.^[119] The campaign expanded to include all 12 eligible states (one of which listed Sanders as an official write-in candidate), and relied on states such as California, with a high electoral college vote count and large support for Sanders, to be successful in denying both Trump and Clinton.^[120] He has received over 100 thousand popular votes and one electoral vote. Two other electoral votes were disallowed.

What is notable here is that he came in third in Vermont,^[121] coming ahead of both Gary Johnson and Jill Stein and taking 5.7% of the vote (18,183 tallied), something that has never happened before in a fall Presidential election.

Dan Vacek, Legal Marijuana Now Party[edit]

Ballot access: Iowa, Minnesota

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee	National Popular vote
Dan Vacek	Financial Assistance Caseworker, Ramsey County, Minnesota	Minnesota	July 25, 2016[122]	Mark Elworth of Nebraska	13,538 (0%)

Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party[edit]

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee	National vote total	Ballot access
Alyson Kennedy	Labor Organizer and Activist Socialist Workers Party vice presidential nominee 2008	Illinois [123]	February 12, 2016[124]	Osborne Hart of Pennsylvania[125]	12,467 (0%)	Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Tennessee, Utah, Washington[126]

Chris Keniston, Veterans Party of America[edit]

Electoral votes: 15

Ballot access: Colorado, Mississippi^[127]

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee	Popular vote
Chris Keniston	Reliability Engineer	Texas		Deacon Taylor of Florida	7,251 (0%)

Mike Maturen, American Solidarity Party[edit]

Electoral votes: 9

Write-In included: 332

Ballot access: Colorado^[129]

Write-In: Alabama,^[130] Alaska,^[131] California,^[132] Georgia,^[133] Idaho,^[134] Iowa,^[130] Kansas, Kentucky,^[135] Maryland,^[136] Michigan,^[137] Minnesota,^[138] Nebraska,^[139] New Hampshire,^[130] New Jersey,^[130] New York,^[140] North Dakota,^[141] Ohio,^[142] Oregon,^[143] Pennsylvania,^[130] Rhode Island,^[130] Texas,^[144] Vermont,^[130] Virginia,^[145] Washington,^[146] Wisconsin^[147]

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee	National Total
Mike Maturen	Sales professional	Michigan	July 9, 2016	Juan Muñoz	6,776 (0%)

James Hedges, Prohibition Party[edit]

Electoral votes: 21

Ballot access: Arkansas, Colorado, Mississippi^[148]

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
James Hedges	Tax Assessor, Thompson Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania (2002–2007) American Independent Party presidential candidate, 2016 Prohibition Party presidential candidate, 2012	Pennsylvania	July 2015[149]	July 31, 2015[149]	Bill Bayes of Mississippi
State parties	National Total	National percentage	highest single state total	highest single state percentage
	5,617	0%

Poll standings: In order to see if support for Jill Stein and Gary Johnson was genuine, Falrleigh Dickinson University conducted a poll substituting Hedges and Monica Moorhead of the Workers'World Party, for Johnson and Stein. Hedges received 4%.^[150]

Tom Hoefling, America's Party[edit]

Electoral votes: 44

Ballot access: Arkansas, Colorado, Florida

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Vice presidential nominee	national total
Tom Hoefling	Political activist American Independent Party and Constitution Party presidential candidate, 2016 American Independent Party and America's Party presidential nominee, 2012	Iowa	January 2016[151]	Steve Schulin of South Carolina	4,856

Monica Moorehead, Workers World Party[edit]

Electoral votes: 30

Ballot access: New Jersey, Utah, Wisconsin^[152][153]
(Texas)^[154]

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee	National Total	National percentage
Monica Moorehead	Perennial candidate and activist	New Jersey	November 8, 2015[155]	Lamont Lilly[155]	4,319	0%

Poll standings: In order to see if support for Jill Stein and Gary Johnson was genuine, Falrleigh Dickinson University conducted a poll substituting Moorhead and Jim Hedges of the Prohibition Party, for Johnson and Stein. Ms. Moorehead received 3%, the same amount Stein did.^[150]

Peter Skewes, American Party (South Carolina)[edit]

Electoral votes: 9

Ballot access: South Carolina

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Vice presidential nominee	national total
Peter Skewes	Professor, Clemson University	South Carolina	May 15, 2016[156]	Michael Lacy	3,246

Laurence Kotlikoff, Independent[edit]

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Vice presidential candidate	Ballot access	total popular vote (percentage)
Laurence Kotlikoff	Economics professor at Boston University	Massachusetts		Edward E. Leamer of California	* On ballot: Colorado, Louisiana[157] As write-in: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia[158][159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167][168][169][170][171][172][173][174][175][154][176][177][178]	3,603 (0%)

Rocky Giordani, Independent American Party[edit]

Electoral votes: 18

Ballot access: New Mexico, Oregon, Utah^[179]

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee	national total
Rocky Giordani	Author	Utah	November 7, 2015[180]	Farley Anderson	2,752

Emidio "Mimi" Soltysik, Socialist Party USA[edit]

Electoral votes: 25

Ballot access: Colorado, Michigan^[181]

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
Mimi Soltysik	Former National Co-Chair, Socialist Party USA	California	October 17, 2015[182]	Angela Walker of Wisconsin
Other parties	National Total	National percentage
Natural Law Party (Michigan)[183]	2,705	0%

He also received 1,086 votes in Guam's presidential "beauty contest."

Rod Silva, Nutrition Party[edit]

Electoral votes: 9

Ballot access: Colorado^[184]

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee	popular vote
Rod Silva	Restaurateur	New Jersey	October 20, 2015[185]	Richard Silva	751 (0%)

Jerry White, Socialist Equality Party[edit]

Electoral votes: 8

Ballot access: Louisiana^[186]

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee	Total popular vote:
Jerry White	Labor editor, World Socialist Web Site Socialist Equality Party presidential nominee, 1996, 2008, and 2012	Michigan	April 22, 2016[187]	Niles Niemuth of Wisconsin (Constitutionally ineligible – under age 35)[188]	485 nationwide.

Other candidate considerations[edit]

American Independent and other fusion tickets[edit]

Several states, most notably New York, permit fusion tickets. A fusion ticket is when a candidate or candidates are permitted more than one ballot line by being nominated by one or more third parties and permitting the votes on all lines to be added together for a single state total.

The Clinton/Kaine ticket is on the ballot in New York on the Women's Equality and Working Families Party lines, while the Trump/Pence ticket is on the Conservative party there as well as the American Independent Party in California.

Conservative party nomination in New York[edit]

The state committee nominated Donald Trump by voice vote.

Total popular vote: 271,961 (3.8%)

Working Families party nomination in New York[edit]

Initially, the Working Families Party had endorsed Bernie Sanders for president, but when he conceded defeat at the Democratic convention and endorsed Hillary Clinton, the party had a mail in primary where Clinton defeated Jill Stein and "no endorsement" with 68% of the vote, preferring fusion rather than "asking voters to cast a vote that is at best meaningless and at worst destructive of progressive possibility."^[189]

Total popular vote: 130,245 (1.8%)

Woman's Equality party nomination in New York[edit]

A faction of the party's executive committee nominated Dr. Lynn Sandra Kahn, while another nominated Hillary Clinton. The New York State board of elections decided the former Secretary of State would get the ballot line.^[190][191]

Total popular vote: 32,307 (0.5%)

American Independent Party nomination in California[edit]

The state committee ignored the primary and designated Trump as its nominee.^[192]

California did not record a separate ballot total for the AIP.

Party nomination contest

Below are the results of the California Primary ballot, which was rendered superfluous when the state committee decided to select Donald Trump.^[193]

California American Independent presidential primary, June 7, 2016[194]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage
Alan Spears	7,348	19%
Arthur Harris	6,510	17%
Robert Ornelas	6,411	17%
J.R. Myers	4,898	13%
Wiley Drake	4,828	13%
James Hedges	3,989	11%
Thomas Hoefling	3,917	10%
Total	37,901	100%

No ballot access[edit]

According to the Federal Election Commission almost 2,000 People, both real and fictional, have been registered as presidential candidates.^[195]

Among the more notable ones are:

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy
Zoltan Istvan	Futurist, writer, transhumanist philosopher	California	October 2014[196][197][198]	Founder of the proposed Transhumanist Party, Had write-in access in New York where he received 65 votes and Florida, where he received 19, for a total of 84 votes.[199]
Dan Bilzerian	Professional poker player	California	June 2015[200]	Withdrew in December 2015 and endorsed Donald Trump.[201]
Ken Fields	Entrepreneur, environmental advocate	New York	November 2015[202][203]	campaign last heard of in August.[204]
Terry Jones	Pastor for Dove World Outreach Center	Florida	July 2013[205][206]
Merlin Miller	Filmmaker	Tennessee	July 2015[207]
Joe Schriner	Painter	Ohio	October 2014[208]
Guy Schwartz	Musician	Texas
Ron White	Comedian and actor		November 2015[210]	His candidacy was a gimmick to help promote his comedy tour[211][212]
Robby Wells	Former Savannah State University head football coach	North Carolina	December 2012 (original filing)[213] March 2016[214]	He made no attempt to get on any ballot.

Write-in Candidates[edit]

A minimum of 1,022,439 (0.8%) voters^[215] cast write in ballots, what is believed to be a record. Many were for registered candidates who were on the ballot in one or more states, others for candidates who were registered but were on no ballots and others were for fictional or perceptibly humorous figures, like of Mickey Mouse or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The vast majority of these will never be counted or recorded as individuals but as "Others" or "Scattered." Many states disallow write-up candidacy^[216]

Non-notable candidates[edit]

The following candidates had no on-ballot access but were official write-in candidates in at least one state.^[217]

Alabama, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont are not listed below as those states do not require filing as a write-in candidate.

Previously speculated[edit]

The following individuals have been the focus of presidential speculation as an independent candidate in multiple media reports during the 2016 election cycle, but such speculation has ostensibly ceased for a period of three months or longer.

• Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School (previously sought Democratic Party presidential nomination)^[218]

Withdrew[edit]

• Waka Flocka Flame, rap artist from Georgia^[219]
• John McAfee, anti-virus software businessman (originally declared as third-party candidate under named 'Cyber Party', before seeking Libertarian Party nomination)^[220]
• Ted Williams, voice actor from Ohio^[221]

Declined[edit]

Individuals listed in this section have been the focus of media speculation as being possible 2016 presidential candidates but have unequivocally ruled out an independent presidential bid in 2016.

• Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City 2002–2013^[222]
• David A. French, writer for National Review^[223]
• Jon Huntsman, Jr., United States Ambassador to China 2009–2011; Governor of Utah 2005–2009; presidential candidate in 2012^[224]
• John Kasich, Governor of Ohio since 2011, presidential candidate in 2000, U.S. Representative from Ohio 1983-2001, Member of the Ohio Senate from the 15th district 1979-1983 (eventually received an faithless electoral vote in Texas)^[225]
• Dennis Michael Lynch, businessman, documentary film maker and conservative commentator from New York (formed an exploratory committee for a potential bid as an independent before electing to instead explore a potential bid for the Republican nomination)^[226][227]
• Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator from Vermont since 2007; U.S. Representative from Vermont 1991–2007 (expressed interest in a possible independent presidential bid before declaring his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination)^{[228][229][230]} He was registered as a write-in candidate in Vermont and California without his authorization.
• Jesse Ventura, Governor of Minnesota 1999–2003, Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota 1991–1995 (publicly expressed interest in a Libertarian Party candidacy instead, before declining to run altogether)^[231][232]
• Jim Webb, U.S. Senator from Virginia 2007–2013 (campaign)^[233]

See also[edit]

• Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016
• Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
• United States presidential election, 2016 timeline

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• 2016 Presidential Form 2 Filers at the Federal Election Commission (FEC)