Ohio Blocks Ballot Access for Libertarians

I saw Andrew Bradley, the College Libertarian Leader, on CSPAN recently. He was speaking at the annual Winter meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State. The Libertarian Party of Ohio submitted their application for a slot on the upcoming November elections ballot, along with the required 27,000 or so signatures (actually, they turned in 57,000 signatures), but the Secretary of State of Ohio, Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican, invalidated those signatures. Needless to say, Libertarians in Ohio are bent. Andrew roasted the S's of S present, finishing his speech with a 'put us on the ballot!'-type screech. There was this odd type of pseudo-silence-clapping thing going on as he strode away defiantly from the platform. It was kinda funny.





In any case, it's no secret that Dems and Republicans hate third parties and will do everything they can to keep them off the ballots. In general, Libertarians get more Republican votes (small government, less/no taxes), and Greens get more Dem (environment, against draconian Drug laws) votes. So, The Libertarian Party of Ohio filed a lawsuit on January 7 alleging infringement of civil rights or something. The judge denied a request for an injunction - to get Libs onto the Primary ballots - but a decision on the November ballot is forthcoming.





Here's a little ditty about the event on the national Libertarian Party site.