The Libertarian Party of Kentucky is the Kentucky affiliate of the Libertarian Party of the United States. The current state chair is Andrew Roberts.
Background The Libertarian Party of Kentucky, referred to as "LPKY", is the official state affiliate of the Libertarian Party (United States). The purpose of the Party is to promote libertarianism and elect candidates to office. The Kentucky affiliate has existed since 1974, and is the third-largest political party in Kentucky. Since the Kentucky Secretary of State's office officially began asking county clerks to track the number of Libertarian voter registrations in 2006, via 31 KAR 4:150 . As of November 11, 2020, 13,619 Kentucky citizens have registered Libertarian according to the Kentucky Secretary of State voter registration statistics.
After the election of 2020, and prior to 2016, the Libertarian Party of Kentucky was considered a "political group". An unpublished 2008 Kentucky Court of Appeals case stated that political groups are treated as Independents, as no other mechanism would exist for those groups to have their candidates placed on the ballot. Both Independents and political groups do not have automatic ballot access, meaning they must collect signatures on a petition for candidates that wish to run for office. Kentucky's ballot access rules require a different minimum number of signatures based on the office being sought, ranging between 25 and 5,000.
As a result of the 2016 general election results for president in Kentucky, the Libertarian Party was considered, under Kentucky Revised Statutes 118.015, to be a political organization for the years 2017 through 2020. Political organizations are those whose candidate for president received at least 2%, but less than 20%, of the popular vote in the state of Kentucky in the last general election. A "political organization", the second tier in a three-tier system, grants that party ballot access, but denies them a state-operated primary. The presidential race is the only metric used for ballot access in Kentucky, and there is no mechanism for a party to petition for access in Kentucky.
Partisan elections – Candidates Candidates for partisan offices that wish to run as a Libertarian are nominated at a nomination convention, which can be, and historically has been, held in conjunction with the state party annual convention. A vote of registered Libertarians at convention determines who the candidate will be. All candidates must also defeat NOTA (None of the Above) in order to obtain the ability to run as a Libertarian. The LPKY State Party Executive Committee can vote to add additional candidates after the convention.
Electoral history Statewide elections Year Election Candidate(s) Votes % . Result . 1980 President Ed Clark / David H. Koch 5,531 0.43% 4th 1988 President Ron Paul / Andre Marrou 2,118 0.16% 4th 1992 President Andre' Marrou / Nancy Lord 4,513 0.30% 4th US Senate James A. Ridenour 17,366 1.30% 3rd 1996 President Harry Browne / Jo Jorgensen 4,009 0.29% 4th US Senate Dennis L. Lacy 8,595 0.66% 3rd 2000 President Harry Browne / Art Olivier 2,896 0.19% 5th 2004 President Michael Badnarik / Richard V. Campagna 2,619 0.14% 4th 2008 President Bob Barr / Wayne A. Root 5,989 0.33% 4th 2011 State Treasurer Kenneth C. Moellman Jr. 37,261 4.62% 3rd 2012 President Gary Johnson / James P. Gray 17,063 0.95% 3rd 2014 US Senate David M. Patterson 44,240 3.08% 3rd 2016 President Gary Johnson / Bill Weld 53,752 2.79% 3rd 2019 Governor John Hicks / Ann Cormican 28,433 1.97% 3rd Auditor of Public Accounts Kyle Hugenberg 46,563 3.32% 3rd Commissioner of Agriculture Josh Gilpin 44,596 3.16% 3rd 2020 President Jo Jorgensen / Jeremy "Spike" Cohen 26,234 1.23% 3rd US Senate Brad Barron 85,386 4.00% 3rd 2024 President Chase Oliver / Mike ter Maat 6,422 0.31% 5th
Congressional elections Year District Candidate Votes % . Result . 1982 KY-03 Dan Murray 608 0.43% 4th KY-04 Paul Thiel 706 0.52% 3rd KY-06 Ken Ashby 1,185 0.99% 3rd 1984 KY-06 Tony Suruda 924 0.53% 3rd 2000 KY-02 Michael A. Kirkman 2,125 0.89% 3rd KY-03 Donna Walker Mancini 7,804 2.90% 3rd KY-04 Alan Handleman 1,486 0.64% 4th KY-06 Joseph Novak 1,229 0.45% 4th 2002 KY-02 Robert Guy Dyer 2,084 1.18% 3rd KY-04 John Grote 2,308 1.34% 3rd KY-06 Mark Gailey 3,313 2.06% 3rd 2004 KY-03 George C. Dick 6,363 1.94% 3rd KY-06 Mark Gailey 1,758 0.59% 4th 2006 KY-03 Donna Walker Mancini 2,134 0.88% 3rd KY-04 Brian Houillion 10,100 4.93% 3rd KY-06 Paul Ard 27,015 14.54% 2nd 2010 KY-03 Edward A. Martin 2,029 0.79% 3rd 2012 KY-02 Craig R. Astor 4,914 1.74% 4th 2018 KY-03 Gregory Boles 3,788 1.36% 3rd KY-06 Frank Harris 2,150 0.71% 3rd 2020 KY-02 Robert Lee Perry 7,588 2.11% 3rd KY-06 Frank Harris 6,491 1.72% 3rd
References
External links Libertarian Party of Kentucky