Abstract

In many states candidates must meet certain requirements in order to be listed on the ballot. Such requirements include filing fees and minimum number of collected signatures. Incumbents have incentives to use these requirements to shield themselves from competition and to reduce entry of challengers. To date, there is very little evidence regarding whether such requirements have negative consequences for candidate competition in elections and challenger entry into electoral races. This paper examines the impact of filing fees and signature requirements on the number of candidates in state races by analyzing state lower house elections in 1998 and 2000. The findings show that higher filing fees reduce the number of major party candidates and the number of minor party candidates. Filing fees more easily dissuade minor party candidates to run for office than major party candidates. More stringent signature requirements reduce the number of major party candidates in elections. I would like to thank the Mercatus Center for financial support and Jon Klick for helpful Incumbent politicians prefer less competition to more competition in much the same way

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