The Libertarian Party has been fighting hard to win a place on ballots in Hawaii. According to Ballot Access New writer Richard Winger in his post, “Hawaii Libertarian Party Virtually Back on Ballot“, the party has been informed that a historic success is in the making. According to the article:
The Hawaii Libertarian Party has been told by the State Elections Office that it has 705 valid signatures, on its petition to restore its party status. The law requires 706 signatures. The party has several hundred more signatures not turned in yet, so obviously it has enough valid signatures. Nationally, the Libertarian Party has completed three statewide petitions for ballot access during 2013: Hawaii, North Dakota, and Arkansas. Whether it is still on in Ohio depends on the outcome of its lawsuit, which will probably be decided in January. Counting Ohio and Hawaii, the party is now on the ballot in 32 states and the District of Columbia. Four years ago (at the end of December 2009), it was on in 29 states.
The Libertarian Party of Hawaii needs to gather signatures to regain its political party status in Hawaii elections & to run candidates for public office. Hawaii State law requires that every 10 years alternative political parties, other than the established Democrat & Republican Parties, must justify their existence. To put Libertarian candidates back on the ballot starting in February 2014, the Party needs to gather 706 registered voters’ signatures on petitions provided by the Hawaii State Office of Elections.
Also, the Libertarian Party of Hawaii recently nominated Jeff Davis for Governor. They describe Davis in the announcement as such:
Jeff Davis, the” Solar Guy” has announced his intention to run for Governor of Hawaii on the Libertarian ticket. Jeff is well known for his daily radio show that airs from 5 to 6 PM on KGU 760 AM in Honolulu. Jeff’s big issues are reforming the Jones Act, marriage equality, marijuana legalization and drug policy reform, and getting corporate money out of politics.
Hawaii has been praised for its recent efforts to open access to election ballots for third parties that have legitimate widespread support like the Libertarian Party. Ballot Access News described the situation in “Hawaii Attorney General Publicizes Recent Ruling, Liberalizing Ballot Access for New Parties Running a Presidential Nominee“. It’s a good look at recent efforts to break America’s two-party monopoly:
On December 23, the Hawaii Attorney General held a press conference to announce his formal opinion 13-2. It says that new or previously unqualified parties can have their party label on the ballot (next to the name of their presidential candidate) when they use the independent presidential petition procedure. That procedure has a very permissive September deadline. Previously it was generally understood that candidates who used that procedure could only have the label “Non-partisan” on the ballot.
The Attorney General’s press release credits the lawsuit filed by the Justice Party last year for causing his office to issue this opinion. The press release says the Elections Office had been interpreting the law to print party labels for candidates who use the independent presidential procedure, all along. But it was more ambiguous than the press release suggests, because no group or candidate had completed the September independent presidential petition in Hawaii since 1992. States often re-interpret their laws, when the previous precedent was long ago.
Some more info:
Libertarian Campus Organizations
University of Hawaii
Manoa, Hawaii
Hawaii Pacific University
Honolulu, Hawaii
Contact: Prof. Ken Schoolland
(808) 389-1998
Leave a Reply