AUGUSTA, Maine_ Nationally, there have been reports about the difficulty groups are having in finding an independent conservative alternative to Donald Trump to appear on their state ballots.
Finding those alternative candidates is not usually a problem in Maine, in part because the threshold is set fairly low.
"The candidate has to circulate a nomination petition which names who the presidential candidate is going to be and the vice president and four electors," says Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap. "One for each congressional district and two at large." Dunlap says it will take a petition with at least 4,000 signatures filed by the first of August to make the ballot.
Over the years, many have met the threshold, most notably Ross Perot in 1992. Perot ran second to Bill Clinton and edged out incumbent President George Bush by a few hundred votes.
For every Presidential election in the last 25 years there have been at least two independents on Maine's ballot.
