Placeholder candidate

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A placeholder candidate is used in U.S. presidential politics as a temporary stand-in for ballot access petitioning purposes until the actual nominees are decided. The need for such placeholders arises from the fact that many third parties must begin their petitioning efforts to meet ballot access deadlines well before their nominating conventions. In any event, the petitions are technically to put presidential electors on the ballot, who may switch their allegiance at any time. In 2008, Michael Badnarik was used as a placeholder candidate in Libertarian petitioning, and Michael Bloomberg and Gail Parker were used as placeholders in Independent Green petitioning. The use of placeholders is sometimes criticized as deceptive.^[1]

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