Freedom Ballot Access

The Ten primary things that contributing to Freedom Ballot Access (online at: http://www.freedomballotaccess.org/ ) accomplishes:

1) It places the Libertarian Party, Constitution Party, and other nationwide minor parties on the ballot more cheaply than they could otherwise hope for, if they were acting alone. This way, they basically split the cost of overcoming State ballot access obstacles with one another. It will be done for less than $3.00 total cost per civilian stop, (including all fundraising and petitioner expenses), as opposed to a cost that is typically above $6.50 per signature for the Libertarian Party alone.

2) All third parties that ballot access helps out will be listed on the ballot under their official party name, not as "independent candidates" (In Alabama alone, this allows 20+ additional candidates per party to be listed, in addition to their Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates).

3) The people who are signing the petitions will be plugged into the ballot access movement, and will be a part of the fundraising base of all the third parties they helped onto the ballot. This is because our ballot access workers will ask them for their email addresses and phone numbers, and will solicit funds from those who volunteer these pieces of information in the future.

4) We will be putting the third parties on the ballot for 2010 and 2012 concurrently, so our candidates will have a longer time to campaign, meaning there is a realistical chance that some of the down-ticket candidates will actually win election.

5) Since all of the parties will have a longer time to campaign, it means that a down ticket candidate will have a realistic chance to surpass the State's requirement of 20% for a statewide race to retain "major party" ballot access for future elections.

6) The down-ticket candidates will have a chance to run, whereas they previously would not, for minor offices that are more easily winnable.

7) The people will be told which parties they have signed for, as opposed to simply being told that they are signing to "put another choice on the ballot". This means more free advertising for the various parties, as well as a chance for people to ask questions from the petitioners (who are all idealists who support open ballot access, and will happily answer questions from the signers).

8) We will be handing each signer a card with information about their rights as jurors, with the Fully Informed Jury Association's web address on them http://www.fija.org/ . This card will also state "Jurors have the right to render a "not guilty" verdict based on disagreement with the law, no matter what the judge's instructions are, and no matter the votes of their fellow jury members." 60,000 people will receive this card, making people accused of victimless crimes safer, overnight!

9) The decreased cost of accessing the ballot will mean that the parties have more money to campaign with, instead of overcoming meaningless obstacles to ballot access. In addition, it will mean that the various parties will all succeed on obtaining ballot access in all 50 States, and will not fail where another party has succeeded (Like how the Libertarian Party failed in West Virginia in 2008, where the Constitution Party succeeded, or vice versa in Montana).

10) The size and scope of this project will result in additional media attention for the various minor parties.

Thanks for your interest and support,

Jake Witmer
cell: 907-250-5503