Rhode Island voters will officially have the opportunity to vote for a Libertarian candidate this November.
A press release shared to the Libertarian National Committee’s internal list by Pat Ford states that members of the Rhode Island Libertarian Party were successful in putting a Libertarian on the ballot. Ford, the LNC Region 8 Representative, wrote that volunteers from Rhode Island and neighboring Massachusetts worked for nine days straight to ensure voters would have a Libertarian choice.
Ford said that volunteers came down in “90-plus-degree heat” and collected signatures “outside Market Basket Supermarkets around the state.” He noted that volunteers had to contend with strict regulations, including delivering collated and signed nomination papers to 39 unique municipalities and almost ten hours of hearings where lawmakers took roll-call votes on each disputed signature.
“If a single volunteer had decided to ‘bail’, and stayed at home? We don’t make it. Period.”, Ford summarized.
Elijah Gizzarelli and Corey Vechhiarino were initially denied a spot on the ballot in July. Rhode Island found that both Gizzarelli in his race for governor and Vechhiarino in his race for state representative had been unable to qualify. This denial happened despite the Libertarian Party of Rhode Island stating that they turned in enough valid signatures, including what they described as “an excess of 1,000 required” for Gizzarelli.
Libertarian Party of Rhode Island Chair William Hunt confirmed with Independent Political Report that they were successful. “Enough disqualified signatures were validated after their review for us to qualify for ballot access,” Hunt said.
With Rhode Island Libertarians successfully securing a spot on the ballot, the next major challenge is retaining that access. Gizzarelli needs 5% of the total vote to earn the Libertarian Party of Rhode Island major party status and ballot access through 2026.
The general election in Rhode Island is on November 8, 2022.
Congratulations to the Rhode Island Libertarian Party for qualifying to have its candidates appear on the ballot. Best wishes for their success in the election in November.