[Lnc-business] Doug Ward's special election in Alabama

[Alex Merced (LNC Vice Chair)]

Just read this.

1. I second the sentiment of appreciation for Josh being proactive in assisting candidates. Thank you for your passion in making sure discuss things (that goes for Caryn too).

2. I also concur that to best of our ability we should keep the scope at which we assist narrow  as it would be problematic for everyone if everyone thought National was the first place to go to for assistance in general. Thank you for you passion in making sure we function in a way that facilitates good governance and precedence as it also matters quite a bit.

*Due to the timeliness and nature of this particular request I do think it was a good call to bring it up as we always want to avoid court precedence that could hurt future ballot access efforts.

Alex Merced
Vice Chair of the Libertarian National Committee/LP

> On Sep 24, 2019, at 2:35 PM, William Redpath via Lnc-business <lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:
> 
> Amen, Sam.  I thank Mr. Ward for running and wish him the best, but if he and other Alabamans can't come up with $300 for this, it speaks quite poorly for them.  And, I write that as a person who has spent a lot of my own money to get on the ballot in Virginia in the past.  Bill Redpath
> 
>> On 2019-09-18 15:29, Sam Goldstein via Lnc-business wrote:
>> We have a set procedure for candidate support and I will oppose any
>> effort to set a precedent to around that procedure.  Plus, if we do
>> this for one candidate in a non-ballot access race for state rep we
>> will be inundated with similar requests from hundreds of candidates.
>> Why can't he raise $300 from friends, family and his state party, it
>> is not much money.
>> Live Free,
>> ---
>> Sam Goldstein
>> Libertarian National Committee
>> 317-850-0726 Cell
>>> On 2019-09-18 15:12, Whitney Bilyeu via Lnc-business wrote:
>>> I would be willing to co-sponsor, but I would like to hear from the Ballot
>>> Access Committee as to whether or not this would truly likely be the final
>>> hurdle to make this thing happen.
>>> On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 1:36 PM Joshua Smith via Lnc-business <
>>> lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:
>>>> Good morning/afternoon esteemed colleagues,
>>>> I was wondering if anyone would be interested in discussing and possibly
>>>> co-sponsoring a motion to disburse a small amount of funds to the campaign
>>>> of Doug Ward's special election for State Rep District 42 in Alabama?
>>>> Currently he is being challenged over just 19 signatures to get himself on
>>>> the ballot as a Libertarian. This is huge for the party in Alabama.
>>>> 31,740 registered voters in district
>>>> In the Republican primary on August 20th 3999 votes total were cast for
>>>> all four candidates
>>>> They are calling the magic win number 4k, but think closer to 1575 will
>>>> actually get them the win
>>>> Has knocked more than 500 doors, but the actual election is not until
>>>> November, so still a lot of time left. This is just to get them on the
>>>> ballot now.
>>>> Ran for revenue commission in the past as a paper candidate and still did
>>>> ok.
>>>> Will only be running against a Republican neocon and a paper candidate dem
>>>> (dems are a non starter in their district, and he has already been working
>>>> on pulling some from that block)
>>>> Has already raised around 5k which has gone towards mostly campaign
>>>> volunteers that are currently working their behinds off (I have been in the
>>>> private chat with them and followed the campaign closely)
>>>> Doug Ward's campaign needs $300 in order to get the most up-to-date voter
>>>> list from the Secretary of State's office in order to challenge their
>>>> certification that he is 19 signatures short.  Just 19 valid signatures
>>>> need to be found in order for him to be on the ballot for the special
>>>> election.
>>>> Is this something we can help out with and call a ballot access issue? I
>>>> think it will reflect well on the LNC to help out a candidate in Alabama
>>>> that could possibly get them ballot access, and change a district in AL to
>>>> gold.
>>>> In liberty,
>>>> Joshua D. Smith