Democracy Chronicles

2022: Year Of Radical Change For Camp Lejeune Justice

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Indiana has been a purple state dominated and oppressed by Republicans who stack every deck in their own favor, all three branches.  The state only allows a new party two means to obtain statewide ballot access, and having failed at one, I am doing the other.

I have sought ballot access as an outsider, but the signature number requirements are so extreme, it’s just not possible unless one spends about $500,000 to gather signatures to get on the ballot as a statewide candidate.

Indiana allows a new party to get statewide ballot access if a candidate from that party gets 2% of the vote for Indiana Secretary of State.  It does not matter if the votes are write-in votes or traditional votes.

The state constitution asks that one be registered to vote in the state prior to the election.  I have lived longer in Indiana than anywhere else, so when I asked to be an overseas American citizen Indiana voter, this was accepted and allowed in Elkhart County, Indiana.  There is no residence requirement for Secretary of State before the election, only after, and even then only if one “wins.”  My victory takes much less than 50%.

2% is likely to be around 45,000 or so votes.  A certain number of Hoosiers is open to new parties, and it has been enough to give Libertarians ballot access, so far.

“Andrew Straw” is what Hoosiers need to write in for Secretary of State and if the required number do, my Disability Party will have the same status as the Libertarian Party.  That’s a good thing because it will make it much easier for any disabled person, including veterans, to run for office in Indiana from that point forward.  The 2026 race would feature a Disability Party candidate for Secretary of State on the ballot itself if I get 2% of the vote in 2022.

Local election boards are generating lists of candidates around the state with my name on it.  That’s free advertising and all it took was a declaration that I am running.  These boards include Huntington & Warrick counties. Moreover, many media outlets are featuring me, including AM 1050 in St. Joseph County, MAX 98.3 in Marshall County, the Goshen News, Politics1, and Ballotpedia. The Indiana Election Commission lists me here.

As often happens, one or two Democrats have said I should not run as a write-in and help the Democrat instead, but that’s a lost cause.  Democrats have not achieved 45% of the vote for this race in decades.  The last time a Democrat won for Secretary of State in Indiana was 1988.  At least if I get 2%, it will not affect the outcome of that race, and instead of voting for a lost cause, a person can contribute to a good cause.  Libertarians will tell you that they never have a candidate for every office and in those races with no Libertarian, it helps the Republican cause to have higher Libertarian turnout statewide.  Greens and Disability Party likely would have the same effect, increasing overall turnout left and center.

CAMP LEJEUNE JUSTICE ACT PASSES, AUGUST 2, 2022

My followers know that eventually I will be compensated for the wrongful death of my mother and my own infant brain injury by the U.S. Marine Corps.  That justice became real in the Camp LeJeune Justice Act of 2022 (S. 3373) passing the Senate on August 2, 2022.  It will be signed by President Biden in the next few days after passing 342-88 in the U.S. House and 86-11 in the U.S. Senate.  Having that kind of money will make many things possible and with the law’s passage secured, it’s just a matter of time and my choices about where to apply my resources.

Any follower of American politics can see the pattern.  When there is justice for a third party voice, that person has more influence.  This was true of Ralph Nader, who was not well known until winning his lawsuit.

Let’s see how many votes I can get in 2022.  Maybe there will be a nice infusion right in the last few weeks.  That would be nice for me and nice for all disabled people in Indiana if I can break the 2% barrier.  Doing this with money will show if it can be done.

I am also pursuing law reforms and court reform in federal and state courts this year and my readers can see how that’s going here: http://2022.andrewstraw.com

 

About Andrew Straw

Andrew Straw is a person with disabilities who practiced disability law and engages in disability reform advocacy.    Straw was a Virginia lawyer and has served as corporate counsel for billionaire Alan M. Voorhees, who designed the Interstate Highway System and the Metro in Washington DC.  Straw then worked for the Chief Justice of Indiana and was the assistant dean in charge of the International Programs at Indiana University-Maurer School of Law.

He grew up in Indiana, where his brother, a retired USAF captain and twice a critical care trauma nurse veteran of Afghanistan, ran as a Democratic candidate for sheriff of Hamilton County in 2018.  Jason Straw is head of Indiana NORML and seeks reforms of the state’s marijuana laws like most other states have.  Jason is known as “Captain Cannabis.”

Andrew Straw was born at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, where his father was training as a U.S. Marine for his Vietnam duty.  Straw was thus poisoned on the first days of his life but was denied compensation and health care.  Straw v. Wilkie, 843 F. App’x 263 (Fed. Cir. 1/15/2021); Straw v. United States, 4 F.4th 1358 (Fed. Cir. 2021).  Straw started a group for people born or poisoned there called Children of Camp LeJeune.  Congress voted to compensate people like Straw and his dead mother from the poisoning (S. 3373, Title VIII, Sec. 804).  This new law has passed the U.S. House by 342-88 and the U.S. Senate by 86-11.  It will likely be signed by President Biden in early August now that it has passed both houses.

Straw has visited 16 countries and has lived in the United States, Italy, New Zealand, Turkey, and the Philippines.  Straw provided services to the Italian Foreign Ministry as a contractor and passed the written U.S. Foreign Service Officer Test in 1998.  For more information, Straw’s CV can be found here.  Straw has lived in the Philippines for over 4 years, from June 2018 – August 2022, studying disability access in that country, but may one day return to the United States when the human rights violations stop.

He is an asylum seeker due to the discrimination and human rights violations of state and federal courts in the USA.  Andrew Straw lives just 1374 km from where his father was stationed in Vietnam. See also. Straw is engaging in pro se law reform from a distance.

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