Our party is on a mission to ensure that we have ballot access in all 50 states plus DC for 2018.
This will enable every American to vote for Libertarian candidates and is especially important to an ambitious and growing party like ours.
We achieved this in 2016 and are on track to do so again for 2018.
On Friday, the Secretary of State in Arkansas certified our petition signatures. The paperwork will be complete this week and the Libertarian Party of Arkansas will be officially on the ballot for 2018.
Libertarian National Committee Chair Nicholas Sarwark says, “The success of the Libertarian Party of Arkansas in regaining ballot access gets us one state closer to our goal of 50 state ballot access in 2018. This news should energize the activists in Ohio who are currently working on a petition drive in that state and serve as an inspiration to activists and candidates across the country.”
In recent weeks, the Libertarian Party of Virginia also completed their ballot access petition drive and achieved ballot access for their gubernatorial candidate for 2017. In 2018, they’ll undertake another ballot access petition drive for 2018 ballot access.
Bill Redpath, a member of our Ballot Access Committee and resident of Virginia says, “Thanks very much to Cliff Hyra for running for Governor and lending funds to his Campaign, and to Michael Chastain, who made two large financial contributions to the Hyra Campaign, so that we could afford the petition drive.”
Ballot access is a key focus of the national party. Thresholds vary greatly by state and some have very easy requirements and others have much heftier requirements. The national party helps state parties that have particularly challenging requirements.
One such state is Ohio. The national party is helping with the ballot access petition drive right now and that will remain a central focus of our ballot access work this summer.
Ken Moellman, Ballot Access Committee Chair, says, “We have never been better positioned to effectively promote liberty as we are right now. As the Old Parties continue to self-destruct, the Libertarian Party is rising as a logical and moral alternative for those seeking real answers to today’s real problems. We need our candidates on the ballot to make this happen, and that’s why we want 50-state access. But it doesn’t end with access. I encourage Libertarians to run good, quality campaigns for any office, from US Senate to Dog Catcher. Injecting libertarianism into public policy, wherever and whenever possible, is the goal of this organization, and how we win the long-term game for liberty.”
Ken adds, “I’d also like to shine a spotlight on the Libertarian Party of Tennessee. Right now, their ballot access petition drive is strictly volunteer based. They are working really hard and making great progress.”
We still have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of highly dedicated volunteers working on ballot access and that helps us to do this critical work as cheaply as we can but it still costs significant money to ensure that we have full ballot access, in all 50 states and DC, in 2018.
Thanks to all who have donated their time or funds to make this work possible.
If you’d like to contribute to this critical work, please click the button below.
As always, thank you for your support!
