LNC Upholds Ruling That All Contributions and Purchases Count Toward Sustaining Membership

The Libertarian National Committee has voted to sustain a ruling by Chair Steven Nekhaila that all contributions and purchases made in support of the party count toward determining a person’s sustaining membership.

The ruling was upheld in an email ballot that closed Sunday, with members voting 8–5 to sustain Nekhaila’s determination that, absent a specific definition or exclusion in the party’s bylaws or policy manual, any contribution made to the party must be treated as counting toward sustaining membership. Four members did not vote, and there were no abstentions.

A membership report produced last week by Executive Director Hannah Kennedy shows that as of January 2026, the party has 8,989 sustaining members, defined as individuals who sign the party’s non-aggression principle pledge and contribute at least $25 within a 12-month period. The report also lists 3,308 lifetime members and 237,752 total members overall. Notably, the report specifies that these figures do not take into consideration contributions from store or convention purchases.

The question arose earlier this month during discussion of a motion to reappoint Robert Vinson to one of the LNC’s at-large seats. In a February 13 Business List thread, Nekhaila first said that Vinson’s sustaining membership had briefly lapsed, which triggered a vacancy under party bylaws.

Initial debate focused on whether the lapse of a member’s sustaining membership constituted an automatic resignation, prompting Nekhaila to reframe the question as whether sustaining status is a continuous qualification for service on the committee. The discussion later shifted to whether certain types of payments, such as convention registrations, event tickets, or merchandise purchases, should count toward the party’s minimum contribution requirement for sustaining membership.

That led to renewed disagreement among committee members over what qualifies as a valid contribution. Supporters of Nekhaila’s interpretation argued that neither the bylaws nor the policy manual distinguish between types of contributions, while critics warned that adopting such an interpretation shortly before the national convention could affect delegate allocation calculations for states that have already held their conventions using existing membership figures.

After several remarks, Nekhaila ultimately ruled his initial motion to reappoint Vinson out of order and that Vinson had not vacated his seat. He further ruled that, in the absence of a policy manual revision or bylaws amendment adding explicit language to the contrary, all contributions to the party must be counted toward sustaining membership. That ruling was appealed, prompting the committee vote that ultimately favored his interpretation.

Following the results, Nekhaila said he would direct party staff to review membership data as of October 31, 2025, to determine whether the clarified interpretation would have affected sustaining membership status during the preceding 12-month reporting period. Those findings will be reported to Secretary Evan McMahon.