Saturday, June 12, 2010

Ballot Access Subcommittee Resolution

Whereas the various state governments of the united States of America have enacted laws requiring signatures collected and fees payed for candidates for public office to be placed on electoral ballots.

Be it resolved by the Boston Tea Party national committee, that a subcommittee should be organized, in accordance with the party bylaws Article 9, Section A. This subcommittee shall have at least three but not more than nine members and be designated the "National Ballot Access Coordination Committee", who's responsibilities shall be:

1. Providing state affiliates of the party with important information about ballot access laws in their state, and advice upon the best manner to obtain that access.

2. Coordinating the attainment of ballot access nation-wide, as well as providing assistance in petition drives and fund raising efforts done by the state affiliates of the party.

The first chair of this subcommittee shall be Raymond Lady of Indiana, all subsequent committee members shall be appointed by the national committee. The members of the committee will be responsible for selecting future committee chairs.

Friday, June 11, 2010

My Letter to Boston Tea Party Members

We were not prepared for 2010. We are not going to have any candidates under the Boston Tea Party banner on the ballot this year. This does not mean we cannot endorse candidates who agree with our platform but in terms of ballot access, we were finished before we even started for 2010.

This should not happen in 2012.

2012 is far too important of an election year for our party to be left off the ballot. This is why I recommend to our party's new national committee that they endorse and allow the creation of a “National Ballot Access Coordination Committee” to assist our state organizations in their efforts to get on the ballot.

This committee would help state parties by 1) providing them with important information and advice about ballot access laws in their state, 2) by assisting them in fund raising efforts and petition drives to actually obtain ballot access status. These are just my ideas. I'm open to changing some or adding others, I'd just like to get the ball rolling on this dicussion so that it never stops until we see BTP candidates on the ticket in a reasonable number of states!

*Best Shots for 2012 Ballot Access*
From the very helpful information at Richard Winger's Ballot Access News, I have found the following ten states to be our most reasonable opportunities to get on the ballot in 2012.

1)Florida- We had ballot access here in 2008, all that is required to get on the ballot is a fairly easy organizational requirement.

2)Colorado- Also on the ballot here in 2008, 1,000 signatures are required

3)Tennessee- Another state we had in 2008, the number of signatures for party ballot access is in court currently but it is 25 signatures for a single candidate

4)Louisiana- 1,000 signatures for a party, $500 fee for a candidate

5)Hawaii- 992 signatures for a party, 25 for a candidate

6)Delaware- 612 signatures for party ballot access

7)Mississippi- has an organizational requirement

8)Vermont- Organizational requirement

9)Ohio- Organizational requirement

10) Utah- 2,000 signatures for a party

This is just the very beginning of what sort of information and planning I'd like to see from a National Ballot Access Coordination Committee. The assistance they can provide will be most important in getting on the ballot in 2012.

I'd like any constructive input about this idea for a committee from any party members, especially Nat-Comm members. You can email me at eternaverse (at) yahoo (dot) com or comment below. ~Thank you, Raymond