Regarding the 2018 election and moving forward

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

The Two-Party Lie

In a world where we have an abundance of choices everywhere:
Paper or plastic? Or did you bring your own?
Would you like fries with that? OR salad, soup, apple, yogurt?
Combinations of sugar-free, gluten-free, peanut-free, allergen-free or sugary, wheaty, nutty, irritating selections are available.

Yet we are often told there are only two choices in an election.

There are many parties to choose from. And even before the mainstream options become unpalatable enough, people should be aware of them. In addition to the more colorful, impromptu organizations, there are a number of solid, established parties that struggle for visibility to the public.

The two-party conundrum is a lie propagated by both major parties to avoid a coalition-style government based on compromise. Mind, there’s enough gridlock in legislation with just two parties refusing to compromise. But with more parties, there should be more motivation to make things work. Because when you don’t have the majority unless you work together, you have to work together, not just bitterly wait it out until the next election where the tide may turn on the popular vote. If there’s never a 50% majority, then there’s no excuse for stalling.

Even today I’m told I’m just throwing away my vote and ensuring that [any candidate’s name here] will lose to [that candidate’s opponent’s name here]. My response is always “Voting for what you believe in is never a wasted vote” and that “If I wanted [said candidate] to win I’d vote for [said candidate]”.

The legacy parties still try to keep us Libertarians out of play. The Republicans kicked us off the ballot in 2014 to ensure the reelection of John Kasich and did everything to keep us off for four years. The only reason we’re back on the ballot now is because we turned in twice the number of required ballot access petition signatures. The bar for third-party petitions is even set higher then for the legacy parties. Even with that our candidates are still often excluded from public debates. Just last month and attempt was made to disqualify Kryssi Wichers not only from running for office in Fairfield County but also from voting. Fortunately the Board of Elections saw through this attempt and unanimously voted in her favor. Nevertheless the opposition continues.

On November 6 we have a chance to step up and speak out and say we will no longer buy the two-party lie anymore.

Jeanette Holpp, contributor

Ken Holpp, Communications Director, FCLP

OHGOP threatens woman’s right to vote.

Candidacy for District 77 questioned over married name change.

Call to Action: Attend, Call or Email!

There is a Board of Elections hearing TODAY at 4:15pm to decide if Kryssi Wichers will appear on the ballot in November and be counted toward winning the race for State Representative for District 77.
If you can attend, PLEASE BE THERE EARLY! If you cannot attend, please call or email the Board of Elections that you support Kryssi against this outrageous accusation and obvious attempt to throw the election to her opponent.

Fairfield County Board of Elections
951 Liberty Dr, Lancaster, Ohio 43130
Call (740) 652-7000
Contact by Email
Facebook Event

The Franklin County Libertarian Party strongly condemns these bullying tactics and demand that the Fairfield Board of Elections look closely at the motives and timing from this complaint as a basis for electioneering on the part of the Ohio Republican Party.
Attacking any persons right to vote is an attack on the foundations of our constitutional republic, and the process of democracy.
We join the Fairfield County Republican Liberty Caucus, the Democratic candidate for District 77, Green Party candidate and Ohioans all over in decrying this blatant effort to discredit a strong, independent woman who lives, works and serves in her community.

Here is what we know so far…

In a bizarre twist in an otherwise run of the mill election for District 77 State Representative, the Ohio GOP has filed complaint with the Fairfield County Board of Elections challenging a woman’s right to vote.
The woman in this question is no other than our own Kryssi Wichers, Political Director for FCLPO, Deputy Vice Chair for LPO and candidate on the ballot for State Representative for District 77.
The OHGOG has filed claim, using the name of a Pickerington resident, that Kryssi is committing voter fraud, misrepresenting herself and asking that she be removed from the ballot.
The claim centers on the fact that Kryssi got married a year ago and went through all the legal channels to take her husbands last name, in a long tradition of marriage.

With everything else going on we wonder why the Ohio Republican Party is suddenly so very interested in Mrs. Wichers and what name she used to legally petition, file and appear on the ballot on Nov 6th?
Sources close to the OHGOP have revealed that District 77 is far from the “hum drum” race would we be led to believe.
Apparently, internal Republican polling has Mrs. Wichers in the lead, or very close, in a three way race.
With this knowledge the desperate and incredible accusation becomes clear. The Ohio Republican Party is using the Board of Elections as a pawn to eliminate a real contender for a seat they assumed was theirs.
They put no effort into backing their candidate, a washed up career politician with little to no real interest in his community or finding solutions to the problems he helped create. After a year of phoning it in and expecting an easy win, this opposing candidate is in total panic that they may lose to a better choice for the community, who has had less than two months to campaign and let people even know they exist.
The Franklin County Libertarian Party strongly condemns these bullying tactics and demand that the Fairfield Board or Elections look closely at the motives and timing from this complaint as a basis for electioneering on the part of the Ohio Republican Party.
Attacking any persons right to vote is an attack on the foundations of our constitutional republic, and the process of democracy.
We join the Fairfield County Republican Liberty Caucus, the Democratic candidate for District 77, Green Party candidate and Ohioans all over in decrying this blatant effort to discredit a strong, independent woman who lives, works and serves in her community.

Kryssi is endorsed by the Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom. The Fairfield County Republican Party and Democratic opponent for District 77, among many others, have strong and publicly disagreed with the action taken by the OHGOP.

Elections Matter

November 6 is fast approaching.

After four years of hard work, thousands of volunteer hours, more than $250,000 in donations and over 102,000 signatures, The Libertarian Party is back on the ballot in Ohio. Now we have to keep it on the ballot. If, on November 6, Travis Irvine fails to get 3% of the Ohio vote, all of that will be lost and we will have to start all over again from scratch.

WE MUST NOT LET THAT HAPPEN!

The Democrats and Republicans would love to see that happen and continue to put roadblocks in our way. Irvine is currently being excluded from all Gubernatorial debates making it that much harder for the voters to hear his message. Once again, it falls on us to help get that message out.

In Irvine For Ohio (IFO), we have a volunteer campaign team that all works full-time jobs and commits hundreds of hours (cumulative) so far to the campaign.

But we need more.

More volunteers to call and text potential voters. More volunteers to get out and knock on peoples’ doors. And more people to attend rallies.

And, of course, we need more donations. Campaigns cost money, and while the Republicans and Democrats have huge war chests, we do not.

We need donations to run newspaper ads. We need donations to run radio ads. We need donations to run TV ads.
We’re down to the last few weeks and we need to finish strong. While we hope to receive more than 3% of the vote that will only happen with lots of help.

We can’t let the last four years be for nothing.

If you are interested in donating time and money please see our Volunteer and Donation pages.

Ken Holpp, Communications Director, Franklin County Libertarian Party

Excluded from the debate?! Travis will tweet!

Travis Irvine will not be silenced.

Despite being excluded from the Governor’s Debate tonight, and no invites yet for the two coming next month, Travis Irvine will make his answers available for everyone.
Help us get Travis trending! Follow along, comment and retweet at:

travisirvineusa

Let’s make a noise that can’t be ignored!

Please consider donating!

Volunteer Texting with Contactshelper!

Working as a volunteer is easy with Contactshelper!
Let’s get started.
Sign into your Contactshelper account with the Login Name and Password you were assigned.
Your Volunteer Coordinator will have added contacts for outreach to text. When you sign in, click “Start Texting” to be assigned contacts.

As a volunteer you don’t need to worry about who you’re texting or even what to write to get started. Click on the “Send Text” button to the right of the contact name and the template shown at top will be sent to the contact.

That is the Contactshelper system connecting you to the voter or donor.

Work through the list of contacts on the page, when all have switched to “Sent” click on Refresh to load more.

When you run out of contacts or need to be done, you can check on the Replies page to see who has answered your texts. As people respond to your texts a number next to the Replies link will increase. While you are chatting with voters or donors new replies will appear at the top of the page and show with a green chat bubble that they have a message you have not seen. Clicking on Show Chat will reveal the chat sidebar and mark that message as seen. Use the chat sidebar to answer questions, share links and inform the voter or donor about our campaign.
When the contact sees your text on their phone they will see the main campaign number, not your number. If they text back later, the text will be added to the chat and the volunteer coordinator will follow up.
When texting with Contactshelper you don’t see their phone number and they do not see yours.

When chatting with a contact you may also use “quick chat” templates provided by your volunteer coordinator for this campaign. These appear below the chat box and button. These links place text into the chat box, often with the contact’s name merged, sharing links or event information.
In addition to chatting with the contact you can leave notes. Please take the time to note the response you received for your outreach, even marking “No Answer” is helpful for the campaign coordinator to keep track of your effort and success.
Thank you for volunteering! Your help is appreciated!

Watch Governor Candidate Travis Irvine interview with NBC4i

Watch Travis Irvine interview with NBC4i

Travis Irvine recently sat down with NBC4i to discuss pressing matters for the state of Ohio and its citizens.

When asked about voters that supported Dennis Kucinich in the Democratic primary and Mary Taylor in the Republican primary was candid about understanding their issues.

Donate today to support Irvine for Ohio and our Libertarian candidates across the state!

“Basically, both groups of voters are single-issue voters,” Irvine said. “With Dennis Kucinich, his numbers were higher in counties where the opioid crisis is ravaging communities and the reason he got higher numbers there is because he spoke about legalizing marijuana.”

The Libertarian Party has always supported the legalization of marijuana for all uses and many people believe that marijuana could be a way to wean those struggling with addiction off opioids.

Regarding supporters of Mary Taylor, Travis says it comes down to what people think of Mike DeWine.

“Mike DeWine is an old, establishment Republican, people don’t know where he stands on issues,” Irvine said. “People are looking for new options. The Libertarians offer people an outsider perspective into politics.”

You can watch the full interview.

Donate today to support Irvine for Ohio and our Libertarian candidates across the state!

Irvine for Ohio Endorsed By Charlie Earl!

From Irvine For Ohio, August 28, 2018

Therefore, I enthusiastically and unequivocally endorse Travis Irvine for governor of Ohio and Todd Grayson for lieutenant governor of our state.”

COLUMBUS—Libertarian Travis Irvine received the first major endorsement of his campaign for Ohio governor Tuesday from Charlie Earl, the party’s 2014 candidate for the same office.

Support Libertarian Candidates across Franklin County and Ohio!

Earl, an ex-Republican who represented the 80th district in the Ohio House from 1981 to 1984, released the following statement Tuesday:

CONCERNING THE ENDORSEMENT OF TRAVIS IRVINE FOR GOVERNOR

“With the ever-increasing growth and interference of the federal government affecting our daily lives, it is vital that the citizens of Ohio elect a governor and lieutenant governor who are dedicated to individual liberty. Gubernatorial candidate Travis Irvine and Todd Grayson, his running mate, are prime examples of the type of public servants Ohioans require. Our historic reliance on the two-party system has led to the betrayal of our people and the undermining of our democratic republic. Travis and Todd represent a new beginning for Ohio. Fresh ideas and liberty-driven energy are the cornerstones of their efforts to return our state government to its rightful place as a responsive servant of the people rather than a master of our fates.

“Therefore, I enthusiastically and unequivocally endorse Travis Irvine for governor of Ohio and Todd Grayson for lieutenant governor of our state. Their commitments to liberty and their lack of relationships with the Ohio version of the “Swamp” makes them the most qualified for leading us forward. Please vote for Ohio. Please vote for liberty. Please vote to end the two-party strangulation of our potential. I urge you to vote for Irvine/Grayson on November 6th.”

“I’m extremely grateful to receive the support of a great man and great candidate like Charlie Earl, and I plan to pick up where he was forced to leave off in standing up for Ohio against the two corrupt parties that control Columbus,” said Irvine in response to Earl’s endorsement.

Earl’s 2014 run for governor, which would have easily won enough votes to retain ballot access for the Libertarian Party, was derailed when Secretary of State John Husted first certified Earl’s candidacy, then removed Earl’s name from the ballot after Republican party officials orchestrated a technical challenge to Earl’s petition. Though the rule in question was ambiguous had never been enforced for Republican or Democrat petitions, Husted’s ruling was upheld, forcing the Libertarian Party of Ohio to regain ballot access by spending more than $250,000 on getting more 100,00 signatures from Ohio voters.

Learn more about Irvine for Ohio.

Show your support for Libertarian Candidates across Franklin County and Ohio, Donate, Volunteerand Get Involved!

Libertarian Party has Ballot Access in 48 states!

From Wes Benedict:

Dear Libertarian,

Months and months of hard work have been paying off as we cross the ballot-access finish line in more states.

This week, we add Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania to the tally.

That puts us at ballot access in 48 states (plus DC) for 2018!

It is also worth noting and celebrating that this is the first time in
20 years that voters in Connecticut will be able to vote for a Libertarian candidate for Governor!

Plus, the two states without ballot access, Tennessee and Alabama, aren’t completely without ballot access. In fact, Alabama has four candidates on the ballot as Libertarians for local or state house offices. However, we don’t categorize Alabama as fully on the ballot because Alabama Libertarians didn’t qualify for a statewide office.

Tennessee has five candidates on the ballot as independents because they didn’t qualify to get on the ballot as Libertarians. The states of Alabama and Tennessee both make it especially hard for Libertarians to qualify for the ballot – something we’ll continue fighting to improve.

Regarding at least some Libertarians on the ballot in all 50 states, Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News commented, “no other alternative party can be shown to have reached this midterm milestone since 1890, when official balloting began.”

Please join me in congratulating and thanking all those who have pitched in to achieve ballot access for 2018. This includes thousands of activists, volunteers, donors, and staff and the Johnson/Weld campaign which achieved ballot access for us in 37 of these states.

Well done, team!

Onward to Election Day!

Wes Benedict
Executive Director

https://www.lp.org/three-more-victories/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign-wes-benedict&utm_content=20180907+GEN+ballot+access+2018

Liberty and the Opioid Crisis

Elections are fast approaching, and every major party candidate has a plank about the opioid crisis. With over 4,000 dead of overdose in 2016 alone (over double the number of overdose deaths in 2012, and almost 4 times greater than the number of traffic deaths in 2016), it is an urgent issue that needs to be resolved. However, Ohio’s current solution isn’t working. In spite of Ohio “investing about $1 billion each year to help communities battle the scourge of drug abuse and addiction at the local level” (August 30, 2017 ODH News Release), deaths from opioids have skyrocketed. In spite of increased police funding, resources to bust drug dealers, drug use education, and state sponsored rehabilitation programs, we saw an increase of 1000 overdose deaths in 2016. A $170 million increase in funding for results so bad that calling them disastrous would be a compliment.

Both major party candidates don’t just have it as the first issue on their campaign websites, but offer nearly identical “solutions” to the crisis. I would never have guessed that declaring an emergency makes things better, but I am fairly sure that we have been hearing DARE’s drug education since elementary school. I guess all we need is more cops to fix the issue. Let’s be very clear here: this is more of the same policies that have been used as the crisis has gotten worse. This is forcing people away from prescription drugs and onto the even more dangerous fentanyl. It is time for a wakeup call, the status quo is not working.

Rather than continuing to double down on the war on drugs that Ohio has decisively lost, we can go out around the world and pick policies with a proven track record to bring back home. Here are a couple suggestions of the most successful policies for decreasing opioid overdoses. And rather than costing billions, they actually save the taxpayers money.

Legalize marijuana:
How is this related? It is well established that states which have legalized marijuana have seen an over 25% reduction in opioid deaths on average relative to similar states that didn’t. Beyond being a less harmful and addictive pain medication for chronic problems treated with opioids, marijuana is widely known as one of the best cures of withdrawal symptoms. There are obviously a lot of other reasons to legalize, but this one applies directly to the issue at hand.

Decriminalize all drugs:
This is a much more radical proposal but one with strong evidence, especially in the case of Portugal. In the 90s, Portugal had over 1% of its population addicted to heroin. In 2001, they had one of the highest overdose rates in the world, at nearly 80 people per million dying of opioid overdose. But that year, they decriminalized the use of all drugs and have seen a dramatic change for the better. As of 2016, there have only been 6 overdose deaths per million, well below the average in Europe (17.3), and far below the 185 overdose deaths per million in the US. Their 90% improvement is one we can follow. This policy also frees up law enforcement and courts to focus on real crimes, rather than what consenting adults are putting in their bodies.

While those two solutions will not end all overdoses, and I fear nothing ever will, they have a far better track record than any solution being touted out by major party candidates. And that is in Ohio, where 1/6 people already use marijuana, the majority supports marijuana legalization, but establishment politicians still will not oven vote about legalizing marijuana or implement the medical licenses that have been promised for years. But libertarians are the one who are pushing for the solutions that put power back in the hands of the individual. We favor policies that don’t empty your wallet, and that actually work.

https://www.odh.ohio.gov/-/media/ODH/ASSETS/Files/health/injury-prevention/ODH-News-Release—-2016-Ohio-Drug-Overdose-Report.pdf?la=en