ELECTORAL FAIRNESS ACT FILED!
EMAIL YOUR NC REP YES ON H867!
COME TO THE COMMITTEE MEETING IN RALEIGH, THURSDAY APRIL 10th!
Dear Friends in Liberty,
Great news! NC House Bill 867 (H867), the Electoral Fairness Act, was filed in the General Assembly on Thursday. H867 would drastically cut ballot access barriers in North Carolina, and it needs your support!
If H867 passes, the number of signatures of registered voters needed to qualify a party like ours for the ballot would drop from 2% of the number of people who voted in the last Governor's race to 0.5% of that total.
In plain English, right now it takes almost 60,000 signatures to get on the NC ballot. If H867 passes, that number would be closer to only 15,000!
The Libertarian Party's most recent NC ballot drive cost us almost exactly $100,000 and took nine months to complete. If H867 passes, we could get all the signatures we'd need from our volunteers on Election Day!
It might get even better than that. Another provision of H867 affects what is called the retention requirement. Now, if our candidate for Governor or President gets 10% of the vote, then our party can stay on the ballot without having to petition again. That's a tall order. But if H867 passes, the retention requirement changes to 2% in any statewide race. We can do that!
We need you to call or email your NC Representative *NOW* and ask them to support H867, the Electoral Fairness Act!
To find out how to contact your Representative in the NC House, you can find out here:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/GIS/Representation/WhoRepresentsMe/index.html
We know you can make a lot of noise in a hurry. You proved it when we told you about H43, the New Party Filing Fee bill. When our ballot access was threatened, Libertarians all across NC raised a big fuss in Raleigh. Thanks to your action, now H43 lies dead in the water, stuck in committee.
If stopping a threat to increase our already absurd ballot access barriers got folks excited, then I'm looking forward to the reaction for a bill that actually gives us some fair treatment!
Be sure to also drop a note of thanks to Rep. John Blust, sponsor of the Electoral Fairness Act, at johnbl@ncleg.net.
This didn't happen out of the blue. We got our bill submitted thanks to the hard lobbying efforts of many NC Libertarians. Two deserve special mention.
LPNC Ballot Access Director Dave Goree has been lobbying Raleigh nonstop since H43 was filed, talking to supporters and opponents alike. He's traveled to Raleigh personally to meet with members of the Election Law committee, plus our natural allies in the House, and even spent some time winning over the sponsors of H43. He put the Electoral Fairness Act in all their hands, and gave them a friendly face and a warm handshake to go along with it. Some of the sponsors of the Filing Fee bill even promised to vote for the Electoral Fairness Act when it was introduced! That kind of effort generally pays off, and it has in a big way for Dave.
Guilford County LP member Jennifer Medlock, who holds the record for highest percentage by a Libertarian candidate for General Assembly, used her campaign contacts to lobby Rep. Blust and sell him on sponsoring our bill, which he was happy to do. It's another example of our typical NC Libertarian positive attitude reaping political rewards. The EFA would not have had a chance if it weren't for the ongoing respectful relationship between the Guilford County LP and Rep. Blust.
H867 is tentatively scheduled to be considered by the Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform Committee next Thursday, April 10th. They meet every Thursday at noon in Room 1228 of the Legislative Building in Raleigh. So mark your calendars- let's fill the room with Libertarian supporters of our bill! We'll send out another LPNC Announcement next week once we've received confirmation that we are on the agenda.
We'll include a sample letter to your NC Representative below. When writing, remember the lessons of Jennifer Medlock and Dave Goree and always be polite! You are representing the Libertarian Party. You never know, maybe your call or email will make a new friend for us in Raleigh!
If you would like to view the text of the Electoral Fairness Act, click here:
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2003&;BillID=H867
Now, here's that sample letter. Write your rep today!
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Dear Rep. [name],
I hope that this message reaches you in good spirits.
H867, the Electoral Fairness Act, would encourage North Carolinians to vote by giving them more choices at the ballot box.
According to Ballot Access News, North Carolina is ranked as low as 49th in the country for ballot access fairness. If passed, H867 would bring North Carolina to the median among all states in this critical aspect of free and fair elections.
For example, NC was one of only three states in the country where votes for presidential candidate Ralph Nader in 2000 were not counted. The Libertarian Party had to spend $100,000 on a nine month petition drive to maintain their ballot access.
Clearly, our current laws are too restrictive to parties with significant grassroots support in NC. Even worse, they are unfair to the voters, who are staying away from the voting booths in record numbers in part because they don?t have enough choices to satisfy them.
I ask for your support and/or co-sponsorship of this bill to make our political system in North Carolina fair and competitive. I believe, as I am sure you do, that the people of our great state deserve a choice at the ballot box.
Thank you for your time and for your potential support on this very important issue.
Best wishes,
[your name and contact info]
***
Don't forget, write your rep and tell them to support H867! Come to Raleigh and pack the committee room on April 10th! And, as always, thanks for your support!
yours in liberty,
Sean Haugh
Executive Director, Libertarian Party of NC
11:10:19 AM 
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