[Lnc-business] Oklahoma petition drive

[Marc Allan Feldman]

It is not just about electoral votes.  There is a growing
dissatisfaction with the two-party system in Oklahoma.  Ballot access
is getting into the news more, and into the public consciousness.
Could this be why the Governor recently signed a bill making access a
bit easier?  Were the financial estimates based on the old or  new
signature criteria?

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-gov.-mary-fallin-signs-ballot-access-bill/article/5418863
Gov. Mary Fallin has signed a bill designed to make it easier for
third parties to get on the ballot in Oklahoma.
The new law, signed Tuesday, will reduce the number of signatures
required to get a third party on the ballot to at least 3 percent of
the total votes cast in the last general election for governor.
Currently 24,745 signatures would be required since 824,831 votes were
cast for governor in Oklahoma in 2014.

On Fri, Jun 19, 2015 at 1:40 PM, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote:
> FYI, a donor has already pledged $30,000 specifically for Oklahoma,
> which we intend to use to solicit matching funds from other donors to
> get to the target amount.  That pledge is contingent on us doing the
> Oklahoma drive.
>
> Our consideration of doing the Oklahoma drive is only after the
> Oklahoma LP has committed to collect a certain number of signatures as
> well as recruiting as many candidates as possible to use the ballot
> access if we are successful.  The Oklahoma LP has already started a
> drive and will be jointly petitioning with the Greens for the
> volunteer efforts, though no LNC funds would be used to circulate
> Green petitions.
>
> It's been 15 years since this party has had 50 state ballot access.
> 15 years is long enough.
>
> -Nick
>
> On Fri, Jun 19, 2015 at 8:48 AM, Daniel Wiener <wiener at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
>> I'm concerned about the proposed Oklahoma petition drive and how it fits
>> into our overall efforts for ballot access next year.  The LNC's finances
>> are very fragile right now, and we will be facing the usual huge expenses in
>> 2016 to get our Presidential candidate on the ballot in a number of
>> different states.  We're not starting out with a surplus to draw on, as we
>> did in 2012.  So it will be a big challenge.
>>
>> While I'd love to include Oklahoma and be successful in all fifty states,
>> I'm also trying to be realistic.  $65,000 for Oklahoma is a lot of money.
>> The way this motion is phrased, we'd have to get $60,000 in contributions
>> dedicated specifically to Oklahoma before proceeding, which is all well and
>> good.  But that seems likely to cannibalize contributions for our other
>> ballot access efforts.
>>
>> Raising money is not a zero-sum game, and different donors may be willing to
>> contribute to different projects.  I can see how "ballot access" will appeal
>> to some people who aren't interested in the building fund or general LNC
>> operations or whatever.  But will "ballot access" type donors be interested
>> in Oklahoma in contrast to other states?  If there's only a limited amount
>> of money we can raise for all our ballot access efforts next year, will the
>> $65,000 for Oklahoma drained from that pool prevent us from getting on
>> several other states?
>>
>> So before I'm willing to vote Yes on this motion, I'll need to hear some
>> convincing arguments that it won't damage our other ballot access
>> requirements.
>>
>> Dan Wiener
>>
>> --
>> "In general, we look for a new law by the following process. First, we guess
>> it (audience laughter), no, don't laugh, that's the truth. Then we compute
>> the consequences of the guess, to see what, if this is right, if this law we
>> guess is right, to see what it would imply and then we compare the
>> computation results to nature or we say compare to experiment or experience,
>> compare it directly with observations to see if it works. If it disagrees
>> with experiment, it's WRONG. In that simple statement is the key to science.
>> It doesn't make any difference how beautiful your guess is, it doesn't
>> matter how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is. If it
>> disagrees with experiment, it's wrong. That's all there is to it." --
>> Richard Feynman (https://tinyurl.com/lozjjps)
>>
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>>
>
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-- 
Marc Allan Feldman
CEO
OpenIVO, Inc.
Beachwood, OH
marc at openivo.com
http://about.me/marcallanfeldman
216-312-4169 (direct)