JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Secretary of State announced that the candidates for the Better Party will be placed on the ballot in November after they met the threshold of signatures needed.
"One of the biggest hurdles for any independent is actually getting on the ballot," Jared Young said in an interview with The St. Louis Record. "We knew we had the signatures and we knew we had followed the proper process, but you never know for sure until you get that official word that your name is going to be on the ballot. So that's exciting for us.
Young needed to present 10,000 signatures to the Secretary of State, but they erred on the side of caution and submitted 25,000 signatures in April.
"We know that hurdle is officially passed now and we can now focus exclusively on just getting the word out and making sure people understand our message and persuading them that I'm the best choice for U.S. Senate this fall," Young said.
The certification provided by the Secretary of State’s office was for the Better Party, a political party created by Young that enables ballot access in Missouri for independent candidates both in the 2024 election and in future elections.
If Young is able to receive at least 2% of votes in the November election, candidates in the future will not have to participate in gathering signatures when they run as part of the Better Party.
In addition to Young, the party has recruited Blake Ashby, an entrepreneur and activist from Ferguson, to run as a Better Party candidate in the 2024 election. Ashby, a former Ferguson city councilman, will be running for the U.S. House in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District.
"This is obviously a significant milestone for our campaign," Young said. "I’m very grateful to the many volunteers and professionals who did the hard work to collect the signatures. We can now focus our time and resources on making sure that all Missouri voters know they have a moderate, independent option to represent them in Washington."
Young previously said they initially started gathering signatures purely through volunteer efforts and then it became apparent that they could get it done that way, but it's going to take a really long time and they felt like it was really important for them to get on the ballot officially as quickly as possible in the campaign cycle.
"We went ahead and augmented our efforts by hiring a professional firm," Young said in a previous interview with The St. Louis Record. "Those professional signature gatherers mostly focused on places with a lot of people, like town squares or shopping centers or anywhere where a lot of people are congregated."
Young had previously said it was a relatively easy sell because people are looking for additional options beyond the two parties and are excited about the idea of having those additional options. Young said they were able to get the process completed in less than two months.
Throughout campaigning it has been clear that there's just an exhausted, frustrated majority out there who are longing for something different, who are tired of just the angry, divisive politics, Young said.
"The Better Party is meant to represent that exhausted majority of people from varying ideological backgrounds," Young said in the previous interview. "We believe this party will have a much broader appeal than your traditional third parties because it's meant to have that broad appeal."
Young holds a law degree from Harvard University and completed his undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University. He has six children under the age of 12. He was an intramural volleyball champion in undergraduate school and an intramural basketball champion in his law school.
Young currently serves as the chief acquisitions officer at G&A Partners.