TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Donald Trump and the Republican Party are ascendent in the wake of the Nov. 8 election, but victory at the polls is not always measured by the most votes.

Though they did not put any candidates in office, the Libertarian Party was feeling pretty good after its performance in Oklahoma – not just on Nov. 8, but throughout the year.

Firstly, the party earned ballot access for the first time in 16 years through its petition, gathering 42,000 signatures – far more than the required 24,745.

“Getting on the ballot is very difficult and costly in Oklahoma,” said Dr. Shannon Grimes, a Libertarian Party member. “It has been one of the more difficult states for a party to get on the ballot, and it could be argued that is still so.”

Secondly, the Republican-controlled Oklahoma Legislature overwhelmingly approved a reduction of the vote requirement to maintain access, from 10 percent of ballots in the previous election cycle to 2.5 percent.

Grimes said his surprise was minimal when the Republicans opened a wider door for third parties.

“There were certain segments of the Republican Party that were looking to create a door to let us out,” he said. “It did invite a lot of us to leave – and stop causing them some internal accountability issues. But there were others who were simply in favor of more ballot access. Those who worked on it wanted not just more access for us, but also the Greens.”

Finally, the Libertarian Party easily retained ballot access when presidential candidate Gary Johnson received six percent of the votes cast by Oklahomans. Johnson won more votes than any Libertarian candidate in state history.

“We have ensured ballot access in Oklahoma for at least two more years,” Grimes said. “Instead of spending money and effort on access, we can turn those resources toward electoral success.”

It was satisfying news for a third party that has worked for decades to push its way on to the electoral stage, and state Libertarian chair Tina Kelly said the election campaign was “a tremendous success for the party.”

“In 2018, we have a whole new range of opportunities for the Libertarian Party of Oklahoma,” Grimes said. “We can educate voters about our platform, and concentrate on state and municipal races. We can nominate candidates for the [U.S.] House of Representatives. With limited resources, we have performed pretty amazingly across the state. In the coming two years, the state party can hold organizational meetings and reach out to the community and voters. We can work to maintain ballot access instead of going through the repeated struggle of getting on the ballot.”

Third parties perhaps got more of a look from voters during the 2016 campaign, as Trump, the GOP nominee, and Democratic nominee HIllary Clinton polled as two of the least appealing major party candidates in history.

The Libertarians, along with the Greens, appeared on many state ballots. While some Libertarians expressed disappointment that the party earned only four percent of the national vote, the results were still good enough to keep the party on a best-ever 39 state ballots during the next election cycle.

“Both statewide and nationally, our leadership teams have done an amazing job of determining where we are as a party and moving us forward to become a stronger party with a broader reach and appeal to voters,” Grimes said. “We are the party of the future. We recognize that we should fight for all rights for all people all of the time.”

A basic tenant of libertarianism is the minimization of government interference in people's lives; be it taxes, firearm ownership, abortion or same-sex marriage.

There is a range of opinion within the party, but the general Libertarian platform supports free markets, small government that defends individual rights, strong national defense capabilities, and the right to bear arms. They also agree with non-interventionism, and separation of church and state. They oppose government regulation of economic activity, gun control, affirmative action and big budgets, but also the war on drugs, government surveillance, corporate bailouts and "government-imposed morality."