From the Chair, Franklin County Libertarians
Another election come and gone.
We are so very proud of every candidate, volunteer, donor and supporters. We cannot adequately express our sincere thanks and admiration for all of your hard work.
Without your tireless efforts none of this would be possible.
Elections are hard on everyone involved. Someone always wins, lots of people lose. When we win we get to point to the victory, whatever the cost, and say it was worth it. Without a win to wash away all the sacrifice and pain, we only have our imagination to wonder what went wrong.
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”
Take a break, be sad, be mad, and be ready to move forward.
After The Election
At this point the Ohio Secretary of State has published unofficial election results and they are not flattering for the Libertarian Party of Ohio.
At last update our campaign for Ohio Governor earned 77,184 votes for 1.79%. This is shy of the 3% widely publicized as required to maintain ballot access for a Minor Party. (Other sources cite higher numbers, notably NBCNews.com at 108,886 with 2.5%) The final count from each county board of elections will be certified in 30 days.
Link: http://vote.ohio.com
Link: https://www.sos.state.oh.us/globalassets/elections/directives/2016/dir2016-26_eom-ch_13.pdf
Link: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3517.012
Link: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2018-election/midterms/oh
What has not been widely published is the fact that as a newly formed Minor Party, only 118 days old, we are covered by additional rules in the Ohio Revised Code, specifically, Chapter 3501.01 section F, 2, (b).
“A newly formed political party shall be known as a minor political party until the time of the first election for governor or president which occurs not less than twelve months subsequent to the formation of such party, after which election the status of such party shall be determined by the vote for the office of governor or president.”
Link: https://www.sos.state.oh.us/media-center/press-releases/2018/2018-07-12B/
Link: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3501.01v1
Emphasis ours. “_which occurs not less than twelve months subsequent to the formation of such party_”
What this means, in plain language, is the Libertarian Party of Ohio is an official Minor Party until after the next Presidential election in 2 years, when our status will be reviewed again under the results from that election.
Whether the incoming Ohio Secretary of State decides to follow the law as written, or ignore it again as politically inconvenient, depends entirely on how politically ambitious they are as newly elected to the role. (This particular uncertainty is why we chose to focus so entirely on the 2018 election Nov 6th as our first best option for retaining ballot access.)
What’s next?
The next party primary is May 7th, 2019. It is currently expected that we will be included in this primary and participate as a political party. We are moving forward on this assumption, and will recruit, plan, and fundraise accordingly. This will be the first concrete opportunity to force the issue of party status and we intend to do so.
Anything sooner?
We live here, we like it here and we are working together to make it better.
We are members of our local communities and there are opportunities every day to be involved.
We invite you to join us and prove to everyone, we will not stand down, we will not go away, and we will not stop fighting for liberty.
Look for our upcoming Legislative Committee Meeting announcement and agenda.
Join us at our next Executive Committee Meeting, Tuesday Nov 20th at 7pm, LPO Office, 6230 Busch Blvd, 43229
Join us for our Volunteer Appreciation Social, Wed Dec 19th at 6:30pm at Eclipse Ultra Lounge at The Continent 6240 Busch Blvd, 43229
Your friend in liberty,
Michael Sweeney
Chair, Franklin County Libertarian Party of Ohio
