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Barry Hess

A federal judge has upheld a state law that increases the number of signatures Libertarian candidates need to collect to get on the ballot — in some cases, more than 20 times the old requirement.

The law was enacted in 2015, but two years earlier, when the idea was first proposed, State Rep. JD Mesnard argued during floor debate that some Republicans lost elections, because of Libertarians.

In his ruling, the judge said that the new signature requirement is not “unconstitutionally burdensome” and that they guarantee candidates who make it onto ballots have some “threshold of support.”

With me to talk about this is Barry Hess. He's the communications director for the Arizona Libertarian Party and has been a candidate for governor, among other office.