Because of Libertarian presidential campaigns I’ve worked and my current work at the LP office, it’s a rare day indeed that I don’t hear Stephen VanDyke’s “Libertarians need to…” or comments like this one:
LP headquarters, are you awake? [snip]
Geez! I am getting soooo tired of LP inaction!
(It’s somewhat ironic that the person who left this comment did so on an LP blog posting bringing attention to this particular issue.)
Pundits are repeatedly suggesting that if the GOP maintains control of either the House or the Senate, it will be because of VoterVault, their database application which assists local Get-Out-The-Vote efforts for the Republican Party. Despite having considerably fewer financial resources than the Republicans and the Democrats, the LP is not being inactive. As a matter of fact, I just drove from Houston to D.C. so I can stay awake day and night for the next few days to help with our GOTV efforts around the country.
Libertarian National Committee chair Bill Redpath was just on C-Span (no video link available yet). One of the things he discussed was the Libertarian Party’s BallotBase operation. It provides an easy way for people across the country to make telephone calls to help support Libertarian campaigns immediately before Election Day.
That’s right, if you have Internet access and a telephone (or cell or Vonage or Skype or whatever), you can help LP candidates greatly increase their vote totals. We’ve already proven that BallotBase helps in test cases. In our first test case in California CD-50, we tripled the vote of Libertarian Paul King in the special election there. In the Vermont primaries, one of the races for which we used BallotBase won by one vote! BallotBase does work, but it can’t work without you.
Depending upon your time zone and the exact time you read this posting, we’ve got around 72 hours to place absolutely as many phone calls as we can in support of Libertarian candidates. You’ll get your choice of race (in some cases even specialized target lists) which you can assist. Here’s some of the races (different campaigns have different rules and start and stop at various times thoughout the day) which could use your help:
Hardy Machia: Hardy is another of those Vermont Libertarians who has a great shot at a State House race. He served the Islands on the Grand Isle Selectboard in 1999 and 2000–as its Chair during the second of those years. He has also served as Justice of the Peace and as Grand Isle’s Town Representative to the Northwest Regional Planning Commission. Recently, Hardy helped spearhead a community coalition to expand broadband access to the islands.
He’s been busy personally contacting voters about key issues for his campaign: controlling spending, protecting their lake, reducing healthcare costs and improving education. This is certainly a case where any single phone call could be the one which makes the difference between loss and another Libertarian Party victory.
Bob Smither: Smither is one of two candidates on the ballot in Tom DeLay’s old district. In addition to Smither and the Democrat, there are several Republican write-ins, one of whom the GOP has been spending millions to convince voters that a write-in candidate can win. Despite heavy NRCC advertising, polling numbers are all over the place — and there is no real way to poll for a wierd write-in campaign like this. Most polling shows the Democrat with his consistent base of around 40 percent of the vote. Smither has been between 4 and 25 percent and the write-in Republican has been between 8 and 35 percent of the vote. Even at this late minute, around one quarter of the voters are still undecided.
We can be sure that the write-in will get less votes than polled because of her cumbersome name, the fact that electronic voting equipment will be used, a demoralized Republican base and that she won’t get any votes from people who press the party line button. It’s imperative that we provide voters a conservative choice in this traditionally 65 percent Republican district.
Bob Smither (Part Two): There are two sets of telephone calls going out for Bob Smither. Residents of Houston remember the long search for Bob Smither’s daughter Laura when she disappeared and her body was later found in 1997. Since then, Smither has founded the Laura Recovery Center for missing children in Friendswood, TX and he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Houston Regional Amber Plan.
While the other candidates campaign on helping the children, Smither has been doing it in real life — not just for TV. His Democratic opponent reportedly had to be kicked off the search grounds for political grandstanding while the search for Laura Smither was ongoing. According to locals, Lampson was posing for the cameras and getting in the way of workers instead of getting his boots dirty. It’s important that the voters in the district contrast who makes loud noises about helping children and who actually does it.
Rex Bell: Rex is running for Indiana State House District 54. He’s the chairman of his county Libertarian Party affiliate and has been married for thirty years to the only elected Libertarian judge in Indiana.
He ran for county council in 2002, a district race where he received 30 percent of the vote. In 2004, he ran for county commissioner, a county wide race in which he received 25 percent of the vote. He was appointed to the Hagerstown Plan Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals in 2003.
Recent polling data shows him at 33 percent, with the Republican at 35 percent and the Democrat at 31 percent of the vote. No rocket science is required to see why assisting this campaign is important.
Phil Maymin: He’s been all over the debates and all over the news. In case you missed it, you can catch both his latest television commercial and an interview with MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson here. Like other Libertarian candidates, Maymin is drawing the distinction between himself and his Democratic opponent by being clearly and unapoligeticly opposed to our military presence in Iraq. If this is your hot-button issue, then Maymin is clearly your man.
This is just a highlight; there are additional campaigns you can support and others may be going online before Election Day. Unlike voting, you can call early and often with BallotBase.
BallotBase is important and it works — but it can’t work without you. Libertarians (myself included) spend a lot of time criticizing others for not actually getting anything accomplished. I’ve been one of those Libertarians screaming “the Libertarian Party needs to…”
The Libertarian Party just did it’s part and now it’s up to all of us to do ours. We’ve got the opportunity now to put our mouths where, well, our mouths have been. As soon as I hit the “Publish” button, I’m logging in to make a few calls. I’m asking the same of you.
If you’ve already signed up, please login at BallotBase.org and start calling. If you’ve not registered, please do so here. We’ve got people standing by in the national office to immediately validate your registration. We’ve added a chat room for support, calling ideas and just plain old fun. If you require additional assistance, please feel free to give us a call at (202) 333-0008 from approximately 10AM to 10PM ET.
The choice is simple and the choice is yours. You can either sit on the sidelines and complain that the coach won’t let you play, or you can run out on the field and be a vital part of making Libertarian Party history.
Disclaimer: Stephen Gordon is the Communications Director for the Libertarian Party.
sucker, ʟʟᴄ