Ballot Access Victory for Ohio Libertarians!

We're a 50 state party you know.

Here's the latest missive from Georgia LP State Chair Danny Adams on the guys and gals up in Ohio who achieved ballot access for Libertarians after years of struggle.

What's right is right.

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Knedler
To: statechairs@lp.org
Cc: news@lp.org
Sent: Wed, May 5, 2010 5:53 pm
Subject: [Statechairs] From Ohio: And it was over in less than 5 minutes

"And it was over in less than 5 minutes" by the Chair of the Libertarian Party of Ohio Executive Committee

Yes, that was the time I spent in my polling place in rural Delaware County on Tuesday morning, May 4. With anticipation, I drove to the Methodist Church, which is also my voting center. As I walked in, I felt both hope that the poll workers would "get it right" and excitement that I would actually be able to vote for something principled. As it should be, the poll worker asked me "which ballot" I wanted. Euphoria and some human emotion gripped me as I stated, " I want the Libertarian ballot"! As they handed me the LP ballot, I realized I had done it. For the first time in over 20 years I was no longer "unaffiliated". I was part of a party and part of a movement. The past 5 years of hard work as a leader in the Libertarian Party of Ohio; the memories of court battles, attorney meetings, sitting in Judge chambers; and presentations to members of the Ohio Assembly SUDDENLY became worth it.

I was at this point because of not only the recent work, but that of others that had fought for ballot access freedoms before me. Those champions of Liberty in Ohio should not go unnoticed, because they did some serious heavy lifting in the 1980's and into 2006. And to think I had never heard the words "Ballot Access" until I joined the LP of Ohio in 2005. I, like most people, just assumed something "magically" happened. Oh was I to get an eye-opening experience on how government works and how the two mega-parties are nothing more than fundraising and marketing machines. Somewhere, way down on their priority list is the common citizen, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

So thank you for joining me yesterday at the polls. Thank you for standing up and saying, "you've had enough", and a special thanks to those people that had the "GUTS" to run as candidates for the Libertarian Party. This is going to be an ongoing and long journey and we have just taken some more steps forward. Let's continue this trek together and hope that those that follow us will continue the good fight.

Thank you.

Kevin J. Knedler
Chair of the LPO Executive Committee

In the first ever contested Libertarian primaries yesterday, Jim Berns defeated Jared Croxton in the 1st CD, with 57.77% of the vote. Jeremy Swartz defeated Joseph Jaffe in the 9th CD, with 52.89% of the vote. Travis Irvine defeated Eddie Florek in the 12th CD with 60.54% of the vote
Even with the historic primary election, we must remember that our work is far from over. The Libertarian Party of Ohio has over 50 candidates running in the general election for local, state, and federal offices. With the election results appearing to indicate that the Republican Party refuses to listen to Tea Party members, and the Democratic candidates decidedly weighing to the far left, now more than ever the Libertarian Party of Ohio must ensure that liberty minded, peace loving, fiscally responsible, socially tolerant voters in Ohio understand that they DO have two choices this November: vote for the ‘lesser of two evils’, or vote for the party and the candidates that WILL make a difference.
For more information on the Ohio Libertarian Party, go to www.LPO.org