Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee will appear on Connecticut’s ballot in November, as soon as the party removes the placeholder.
Petitions were submitted to Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s office from the Libertarians with Carla Howell’s name on them. Howell is the national Libertarian Party’s political director. She is serving in many states, not just Connecticut, as a “placeholder” candidate, who would eventually be replaced by Johnson.
A spokesman for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said that the Libertarian Party has crossed the 7,500 signature threshold to get on the ballot. A total of 8.923 signatures were accepted by election officials. The deadline to submit the signatures was Aug. 10.
A national Quinnipiac University poll conducted at the end of August found 10 percent of voters surveyed supported Johnson, while 4 percent of voters support Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee who will also appear on Connecticut’s ballot. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton received 45 percent of the vote and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump received 38 percent in a question that asked about all four candidates.
