The two major parties in the United States, the
Democratic Party and the
Republican Party, had ballot access in all 50
US states and the
District of Columbia. Each state sets its own requirements for candidates to gain ballot access. In some cases it is easier for party nominees to gain ballot access than for independent candidates, so Ralph Nader's independent campaign is associated with parties (pre-existing or newly formed) in some states:
PF is the
Peace and Freedom Party,
NLP is the Natural Law Party,
IEP is the
Independent-Ecology Party, and
IP is the Independent Party. In Kansas, Chuck Baldwin's campaign is associated with the
Kansas Reform Party after a legal challenge had been brought to recognize national Reform Party candidate Ted Weill on the ballot.
George Phillies appeared on the ballot in New Hampshire with the label "Libertarian", with
Chris Bennett as his running mate. ;Candidates who had ballot access to enough electoral votes to win the presidency ;Other third party candidates Notes: • Since Socialist Workers party candidate Róger Calero was constitutionally disqualified to be president, in some states the Socialist Workers Party had
James Harris (
JH) listed on the ballot. ;Other candidates The tickets below were on the ballot in one state. Those without party labels are
independents. Some do not have vice-presidential candidates. • Jonathan Allen/Jeffrey Stath (Heartquake '08—Colorado, write-in in Arizona, Georgia, Montana, Ohio, and Texas) • Jeff Boss/Andrea Marie Psoras (Vote Here—New Jersey) • Richard Duncan/Ricky Johnson (Ohio) •
Bradford Lyttle/Abraham Bassford (United States Pacifist Party—Colorado) • Frank McEnulty/David Mangan (Colorado) • John Joseph Polachek (New Party—Illinois) • Jeffrey Wamboldt (We the People Party—Wisconsin) •
Ted Weill/Frank McEnulty (
Reform—Mississippi)
Guam Although
Guam has no votes in the Electoral College, it has held a straw poll for its presidential preferences since 1980. In 2008, their ballot included Barr, McCain, and Obama. On July 10, 2008, the Guam legislature passed a law moving that poll forward to gain notoriety for Guam's election. The legislation was eventually vetoed. ==Primary and convention candidates==