Signature Requirements and Ballot Access Restrictions in Popular Presidential Elections: A Global Overview and Analysis

The vast majority of democracies now elect their head of state in popular elections. Political scientists have proposed multiple ways to classify different systems and estimated their effect on candidate competition, voter turnout and party systems. However, with the exception of the United States – where questions over the impact of varying state-level regulations and other requirements have long dominated the public and scholarly debate – there is as of yet little research that maps and analyses ballot access requirements in popular presidential elections from a comparative perspective. This paper argues that signature requirements present one of the greatest hurdle to candidate entry and registration in popular presidential elections. Electoral laws often specify not only overall numbers, but also include requirements for regional distribution; furthermore, as many countries allow for preferential treatment of incumbents or nominees of parliamentary parties, signature requirements can significantly disadvantage smaller parties and independent candidates. Based on a new data set covering close to 50 countries and 250 elections, the paper provides a first global overview and analysis of signature requirements as part of ballot access restrictions, relates them to several system-level characteristics (e.g. regime type, electoral system, presidential power) and gauges their impact on candidate entry.