Missouri Laws 115.317 – Filing valid petition, effect — new party — failure in two consecutive ..
1. The filing of a valid statewide petition shall constitute the political group a new party for the purpose of placing its name and the names of its statewide and district and county candidates which are submitted pursuant to section 115.327 on the ballot at the next general election or the special election if the petition nominates a candidate to fill a vacancy which is to be filled at a special election. The filing of a valid countywide or district wide petition shall constitute the political party a new party for the purpose of placing its name and the names of its county and district candidates on the ballot at the next general election or the special election if the petition nominates a candidate to fill a vacancy which is to be filled at a special election. If presidential electors are nominated by the petition, the names of the candidates for elector shall not be placed on the official ballot, but the name of their candidate for president and the name of their candidate for vice president shall be placed on the official ballot at the next presidential election.
2. If, at an election in which the new party’s candidates first appear, any of its candidates for a statewide office receives more than two percent of all votes cast for the office, the new party shall become an established political party for the state. If, at the election in which the new party’s candidates first appear, any of its candidates for an office receives more than two percent of the votes cast for the office in any district or county, the new party shall become an established political party only for the district or county.
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 115.317
- Ballot: the paper ballot, or ballot designed for use with an electronic voting system on which each voter may cast all votes to which he or she is entitled at an election. See Missouri Laws 115.013
- County: any county in this state or any city not within a county. See Missouri Laws 115.013
- District: an area within the state or within a political subdivision of the state from which a person is elected to represent the area on a policy-making body with representatives of other areas in the state or political subdivision. See Missouri Laws 115.013
- General election: means the election required to be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, biennially. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- New party: any political group which has filed a valid petition and is entitled to place its list of candidates on the ballot at the next general or special election. See Missouri Laws 115.013
- Political party: any established political party and any new party. See Missouri Laws 115.013
- Political subdivision: a county, city, town, village, or township of a township organization county. See Missouri Laws 115.013
- Special election: elections called by any school district, water district, fire protection district, or other district formed pursuant to the laws of Missouri to provide limited, specific services. See Missouri Laws 115.013
- State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
3. If, after becoming an established political party for the state, at any two consecutive elections a party fails to have a statewide candidate or fails to poll for a candidate for any statewide office more than two percent of the entire vote cast for the office, a party shall no longer be deemed an established political party. If, after becoming an established political party for a district or county, at any two consecutive elections a party fails to have a candidate in the district or county, as the case may be, or fails to poll more than two percent of the entire vote cast at either of the last two elections in which the district or political subdivision voted as a unit for the election of officers or representatives to serve its areas, the party shall no longer be deemed an established political party.