How much can you campaign and win? Even just filing and having a simple website can win an election!

The county party is in a position to support candidates county wide to collect signatures for ballot access, fundraise, coordinate community events and run campaigns. Even just a “basic” campaign that involves filing paperwork, simple website, answering surveys and directing volunteers to help other more engaged candidates would be worthwhile and provide those communities with choice on the ballot. 

You can run a basic, engaged or all out campaign.

We already have several candidates across Franklin County that are gearing up “all out” campaigns and we know the more people running with the same message the more attention we can get everyone.

The following elected roles will be UNOPPOSED going into the November General Election! (without an independent opponent they have already won that election)

Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas 
Franklin County Coroner 
Franklin County Recorder 
Franklin County Sheriff 
Franklin County Treasurer 
State Representative Ohio House District 01 
State Representative Ohio House District 02 
State Representative Ohio House District 03 
State Representative Ohio House District 05 
State Representative Ohio House District 07 
State Representative Ohio House District 08 
State Representative Ohio House District 09 

Review requirements for each role in the Ohio Secretary of State Candidate Requirement Guide.

The filing date for Independent candidates is March 18, 2024.

SEVEN district races for Ohio Assembly are UNOPPOSED for the general election in November 2024.

Get started today!

Franklin County needs energetic people to run for office! Libertarian elected officials get to make policy that reduces the scope of government and increases personal liberty.

Please complete this form, and our Political Director will be in contact with you.

Contact Information *
Required
Name: *
Phone:
Email: *
What office do you want to run for? (required) : *
 
 


Run for State and County Office!

The following elected roles will be UNOPPOSED going into the March Primary AND the November General Election! (without an independent opponent they have already won that election)

Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas 

Franklin County Coroner 

Franklin County Recorder 

Franklin County Sheriff 

Franklin County Treasurer 

State Representative Ohio House District 02 

State Representative Ohio House District 07 

State Representative Ohio House District 08

State Representative Ohio House District 09

The filing date for Independent candidates in March 18, 2024.

Franklin County Libertarians will support candidates in collecting signatures and raising money.

Get started today!

Franklin County needs energetic people to run for office! Libertarian elected officials get to make policy that reduces the scope of government and increases personal liberty.

Please complete this form, and our Political Director will be in contact with you.

Contact Information *
Required
Name: *
Phone:
Email: *
What office do you want to run for? (required) : *
 
 


Thinking about running for public office?

Franklin County Libertarians wishing to run in “partisan” races will need to file as Independent.
The county party pledges assistance and resources to qualify.

Partisan candidates with ballot access (not Libertarians, booo) are required to file by Wed, Dec 20th.
Independent candidates have until Mon, Mar 18th, 2024.

The petition signature requirements for party candidates are different for each race, but substantially lower than the requirements for independent candidates.

Example: State Representative for District 6
Partisan candidate signatures required: 50 (max 150)
Independent candidate signatures required:
273 (max 819)

Now, you might be wondering “Just how hard is it to collect 50 signatures?”

Short answer: hard

Long answer: Not just 50 signatures, 50 validated signatures.

The person signing the petition must be a registered voter in the district or area of your election. Not registered, not counted.

The person signing the petition must have voted in any election in the last 2 years. Not voted, not counted. (This is squishy.)

The signature on the petition must match the signature the county board of election has on record. No match, not counted.

On average experienced circulators can collect 50 to 100 signatures a day, with validity averaging 1 in 4.
It also depends on location and time of day. Going door-to-door produces better signatures and higher validatity. Standing in front of grocery stores or bustling shopping areas produces lower validity.
Thus means you can’t just get the bare minimum 50, you must collect more, and experience recommends 2x more.

Even longtime incumbent candidates collect plenty more than the minimum, and potential candidates are disqualified all the time for missing the minimum by as few as 1 signature. 

In 2018 the Libertarian Party of Ohio submitted 102k signatures to qualify for minor party status.
Roughly 64k were deemed “valid” by county boards of election.

Get that ball rolling now, the sooner we connect, the better our chances of getting you elected!

Run for local or state office: https://www.fclpo.org/run-for-local-office/

Source: https://vote.franklincountyohio.gov/BOEL-website/media/Election-Info/2024/(1)%20Primary%20Election%20-%20March%2019,%202024/(1)%20Notices%20of%20Election/2024-Election-Schedule-8.pdf

Choosing Our Lords And Masters

“Many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, is has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”   
Winston Churchill

Democracy has been called many things: 
“The rule of the ignorant” 
“The tyranny of the majority”
“Two wolves and a lamb voting on what’s for supper”

While it is all that, unless something drastic happens, it’s the system we have to work with, and I’m not sure I’d have it any other way. 

It’s messy and open to all kinds of corruption, but it is participatory…for those who choose to participate.

Or are allowed to participate.

I would love to recommend a slate of Libertarian candidates for office this election cycle, but Ohio no longer recognizes us as a political party, nor the Greens, nor the Constitutions, nor anyone else that’s not a Republican or Democrat.

But that’s not going to change on its own.

Perhaps the worst thing about democracy is that it takes work, and people who are willing to work – especially to break the two-party system. Let’s get the word out about the Two Party Lie and do our work to ensure that there are more than two candidates available for the races. And then vote for them.

And running for office would also be helpful.  In my own district, with the exception of City Council and the Board of Education, all other candidates are unopposed. 

There is no excuse for that.

We need to get more involved to make the changes we want and not just sit back and let other people make those decisions for us. 

Ken HolppSecretary, Franklin County Libertarian Party

Taxation Is A Curse On Civilization

No matter the number of residents who collude in public ceremony, there is no distinction between taking by tax and taking by theft.

What difference is there between stealing from your paycheck and commanding physical labor?
Just because you sit comfortably in an office or stand in a shop those hours stolen from your wages are time you cannot get back, or bargain for again.

If a local city commanded its residents to work for free in efforts of maintenance, such as road or park upkeep, the fury and protest would be resounding.

If the city demanded that residents came to city hall a few hours a month to clean and file, mop or just answer the phone, the outrage would be deafening.

Instead, we are commanded to turn over a portion of our income, hundreds of hours worked, combining to many billions of dollars, most before even seeing it, and instead of righteous indignation and defiance, we squabble over what luxury the city should subsidize and what inefficient services the city should offer without recourse, and how we should pay the people we empower to punish us for petty or imagined offenses.

Elections do not bestow the power of aristocracy on the elected, do not give them special knowledge or enhanced intelligence, nor does the will of 51 percent of election participants magically grant them power that they do not have individually.

Taxation is a curse on civilization, a remnant of primitive authority left over from a barbarous time when men and women were ruled under constant threat of violence.
Taxation is a curse that must be lifted.

When we consider ourselves so modern, so mature, governing ourselves with democracy, representatives, councils, commissioners and officials, consider, just consider, for a moment, what roots of our traditions still strangle our progress and if we can ever be truly free while we are still taxed.

We are Americans. We are Ohioans. Risk is our business. Freedom is our heritage.
If you are more afraid of how we might pay for roads then the damage done when stealing from your neighbor, I ask you, where is your compassion.

If something is worth doing, we will find a way to do it, if someone needs help, we will find a way to help them. We are more powerful together, committed with compassion than ever when compelled.
You cannot compel compliance and expect people to prosper. You cannot steal from your neighbor and not ferment resentment.

If you look around and feel that everyone is angry with everyone else all the time, think, just think, what injustice have you participated in, what we’re told by authority to just accept and pay no mind, what resentment is building and bubbling up?

We throw down the challenge of a new American Century, to embrace the next transformation for a free people, accept that our traditions of taxation are hindering our growth as a society, and throw off the shackles of authority thinking.

Taxation is theft.
Volunteer. Donate. Get Involved.

Meet Libertarian POTUS candidate Chase Oliver Mon Oct 9th at 6pm

The Hilliard Room, Oties Tavern
5344 Center St, Hilliard Ohio

Get Directions | Learn more about Chase 

From VoteChaseOliver.com About
Chase Oliver is a 37-year-old Libertarian activist living in Atlanta. Dubbed “…the most influential Libertarian in America…” by Rolling Stone, Oliver is a champion of the rights of the individual against the growing power of the state. He began his political activism opposing the War in Iraq under George Bush, aligning with the Libertarian Party after an encounter at the Atlanta Pride Festival in 2010.

In 2020 he ran for Congress in Georgia’s 5th district to complete the term of the late civil rights icon John Lewis. In 2022, he ran for US Senate, debating incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker’s empty podium. Oliver was widely credited with causing the runoff election between Warnock and Walker. He advocates the adoption of Ranked Choice Voting to avoid future runoffs.

Summary Results Report – Franklin County Board of Elections

2023 August Special

August 8, 2023

Registered Voters – Total -> 874,980

Ballots Cast – Total -> 334,864

Voter Turnout – Total -> 38.27%

Source: https://vote.franklincountyohio.gov/BOEL-website/media/Election-Info/2023/(2)%20Special%20Election%20-%20August%208,%202023/(3)%20Election%20Results/Franklin-s-Official-Canvass-Group-Detail-Report.pdf

Franklin County Candidates Running Unopposed for the 2023 General Election

Lori M. Tyack – CLERK OF THE FRANKLIN COUNTY MUNICIPAL COURT

Ben Kessler – CITY OF BEXLEY MAYOR BEXLEY

Greta Kearns – CITY OF GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS MAYOR GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS

Lance M. Westcamp – CITY OF GROVEPORT MAYOR GROVEPORT

Sloan Spalding – CITY OF NEW ALBANY MAYOR NEW ALBANY

Chris Shook – CITY OF REYNOLDSBURG ATTORNEY REYNOLDSBURG

Joe Begeny – CITY OF REYNOLDSBURG MAYOR REYNOLDSBURG

Brad Nicodemus – CITY OF WHITEHALL ATTORNEY WHITEHALL

Michael T. Bivens – CITY OF WHITEHALL MAYOR WHITEHALL

Shaquille Alexander – CITY OF WHITEHALL TREASURER WHITEHALL

John Mathys – VILLAGE OF BRICE MAYOR BRICE

Brannon Dawson – VILLAGE OF HARRISBURG MAYOR HARRISBURG

Christie Ward – VILLAGE OF LOCKBOURNE MAYOR LOCKBOURNE

Matthew P. Cincione – VILLAGE OF MARBLE CLIFF MAYOR MARBLE CLIFF

Daniel Schlichting – VILLAGE OF RIVERLEA MAYOR RIVERLEA

Christopher Lopez – ESC of Central Ohio (Franklin Subdistrict)

Walley Obert – HAMILTON LSD BOARD MEMBER Hamilton Local

Becky Kent – BROWN TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Brown Township

Deborah Steele – CLINTON TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Clinton Township

Linzie Justus – FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Franklin Township

Lisa E. Shirkey – HAMILTON TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Hamilton Township

Ron Grossman – JACKSON TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Jackson Township

Ronald A. McClure – JACKSON TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE Jackson Township

Ken Jones – JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Jefferson Township

Laurie Vermeer – MADISON TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Madison Township

Nancy M. White – MIFFLIN TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Mifflin Township

Richard J. Angelou – MIFFLIN TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE Mifflin Township

Michele M. Elliott – PERRY TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Perry Township

Chet J. Chaney – PERRY TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE Perry Township

Eugene Zappitelli – PLAIN TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Plain Township

Jill Beckett‐Hill – PLAIN TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE Plain Township

Paula J. Wilkins – PLEASANT TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Pleasant Township

Edward Sheets – PLEASANT TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE Pleasant Township

Michael D. Farley – SHARON TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Sharon Township

Tony Palmer – SHARON TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE Sharon Township

Natalie West‐Nicodemus – TRURO TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER Truro Township

There are several reasons why a candidate may be unopposed.

The most common is that no one else files to run. 🤷‍♀️

Source: https://vote.franklincountyohio.gov/BOEL-website/media/Election-Info/2023/(3)%20General%20Election%20-%20November%207,%202023/(2)%20Candidates%20and%20Issues/2023-General-Certified-Candidates-List-2.pdf