| HN Mirror

Okay, well candidates already have to qualify for the ballot on their own. Being the party nominee doesn't except you from all the paperwork and petitioning that is required in pretty any jurisdiction I know of in America. Even Presidential candidates already have to qualify on a per State basis, but they have large campaigns, campaign staff in volunteers in each State that are willing to go to bat for them and dot the necessary i's and cross the necessary t's. Party machinery helps with this, but is insufficient on its own.

The main reason you don't see more people running as candidates outside their Party is because of Party discipline and the sheer cost of running national campaign. Third parties can tread water qualifying for each ballot as they come up in some States, but they have no real media presence because they're not effective at creating a real presence for themselves (and it is often off-putting in the years they can, yeah, parties can get worse).

People running outside their party as independents would be putting their political careers on the line by doing so, and not because of any kind of benefit or privilege in the law that favors parties specifically; it's because by doing so they are actively sabotaging their party's chances of winning that seat and parties don't want to keep people like that in their ranks. Add on top of that that it is expensive to even try, and it's just not worth it, although candidates that can raise more money on their own can shrug some of that party discipline off when it's a case of the party needs them more than they need the party, it's still not the norm.

As far as partisan vs non-partisan offices go, the only distinction to a voter reading their ballot is whether or not the candidate's party affiliation is listed in the text box. There is no other functional difference that matters. That's why I call it a charade.