From LNC email list:
There will be an Executive Committee teleconference on Monday, February 1 on the subject of an encumbrance for ballot access in Connecticut.
Date: Monday, February 1, 2016
Time: 9:30 p.m. Eastern / 6:30 p.m. Pacific
Dial-in: (217) 258-5588
Guest Pin Code: 207730
1. At conference time, dial the Conference Dial-In number above.
2. At the prompt, enter the Access Code followed by the # key.
3. You will hear music until the Moderator enters the call.
To mute your individual phone line, press * 6.
To un-mute your individual phone line, press * 7.
Alicia Mattson
LNC Secretary
This IPR editor will be attending and will update this article with a summary of the meeting once finished.
SUMMARY OF CALL: 7,500 signature are needed to succeed for ballot access in Connecticut for a Libertarian Presidential candidate and US Senate candidate to be on the ticket. It is estimated that 11,000 gross signatures would be needed in order to have the appropriate cushion. The deadline is August 10, 2016. The Libertarian Party of Connecticut has stated it can obtain 1,000 volunteer signatures and can pay for 1,000 signatures. That would leave 9,000 to be obtained via assistance of the National Party. Mr. Redpath stated that he would like to get this started as soon as possible and moved that $25,000 be encumbered in order to achieve this goal.
Andrew Rule, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Connecticut (LPCT) gave information on petitioning requirements in Connecticut. He stated that signatures can be turned in as they go and that there is no requirement for a single turn-in; however, he has never seen any minor party not do a single turn-in. Connecticut plans to pre-validate signatures prior to turn-in. Each petition sheet has to be handed in to its specific town which can add an additional hurdle. The LPCT has a fund-raising goal for this effort to be completed by the end of February. They do not have the entire figures or plan to discuss yet but rather have broad goals, including plans on getting petitioners, both in-state and out-of-state. Chair Rule would be the petitioning coordinator for this effort. They plan on putting down stand-in candidates so that they can start early (right away) and then have those switched once the actual names were determined.
Questions were raised about what kind of reporting would be required for expenditure of funds. This would need to be worked out between the LPCT and National staff but that careful accounting would be required. The New Jersey Libertarian Party will be sending some volunteers to assist as their ballot access requirements are much lower (800 signatures), and they don’t intend upon starting until after the National Convention as they opt not to use stand-in candidates on their petitions.
The vote was 7 in favour, and 0 were opposed; the motion passed.
Draft minutes
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2016_02_01-LNC-ExComm-Conf-Call-Minutes-v1.pdf
George, thank you so much.
And yes, I thought I heard that as well.
George, the office of the Secratary of State (Elections Division) checks the signatures in most states and it is usually not a problem.
Having to separate petition pages by city/town greatly increases the printing costs for the petition drive, plus it slows down petition circulators because they have to fish for more pages. It also makes the turn in process into a logistical nightmare because you could easily have to turn in and pick up signatures from every city/town in the state.
It is not worth the hassle in my opinion.
Caryn,
I started typing my summary before you posted your update, and found your excellent summary afterward.
I am reasonably certain that I heard the Connecticut people say the petitioning would cover a Senate race.
Of course, it is their state. The sound quality was a bit limited, so perhaps that was meant as a hypothetical.
George
The Libertarian Party is already on the ballot for US Senate in Connecticut. The last US Senate in Connecticut was in 2012, when the LP got 1.66% for Paul Passarelli. Connecticut is unique in that ballot-qualified status is separate for each office.
George, correct.. and yes, there was a substantial audience. That was very heartening to see so many people interested. Nice hearing your voice in identifying the gallery.
Ken,
Local towns means that you will get conscientious validation by local officials rather than minimal-effort validation. There is a remarkable positive influence on validity rates of signatures.
George
The 7-0 vote appropriated enough money to pay for much or all of a Connecticut petition drive for a candidate for President and Senate. There was a substantial audience of other LNC members, state chairs, and party members.
Summary placed in opening post.
“petition pages have to be separated by city/town” —- That’s the part that I find stupid. If I’m running state-wide, why would each local clerk need to be involved? If running for a local office, then I get it. But it seems like an unfunded mandate on the local clerks and a stupid, unnecessary burden on anyone engaging in the petition drive.
Also, pretty sure petition has to list names of candidates, but they can use stands ins and do substitutions later.
I have never petitioned in Connecticut, but this is what I have heard.
I am pretty sure it is 7,500 valid signatures, due in early ,August, and petition pages have to be separated by city/town. There is a declaratiin on each page that has to be signed and notarized.
How many signatures are required in CT? What does the petition look like?
I need to comment to subscribe
Should read, “to an undeserving…”
The northeast tends to be expensive on motels and etc…, so I hope the LNC takes this into consideration when determining how much to allocate for ballot access.
I also hope there is no “funny business” this time with handing some “sweetheart” deal to u deserving non_libertarian mercenaries.
It makes me sick when most of the people representing the Libertarian Party on the streets are not even libertarians. This is bad for the party and is among the reasons for the lack of success of the party.