LP Illinois News - April 2008 #1
Vote Libertarian Illinois Petition Drive Under Way
Libertarians around the state are beginning to collect signatures to support the petition drive. The goal of the drive is to collect the 42,000 signatures needed to get our candidates for President, Vice President, and Senate on the ballot of Illinois voters.
For example, DuPage county volunteers collected between 20 and 30 signatures per hour at a Sportsman's Show in DuPage County this past weekend. If there is a gun show coming up in your county (Google to find one), purchasing a table is a great investment. Not only was it fun and easy to get signatures there, but a good deal of outreach literature was distributed as well to an audience generally open to the libertarian message.
If you know of an upcoming event that would be a great place to collect signatures or a location where you have been collecting with success, please email them to VLI@LPIllinois.org. We'd like to include them in future issues.
Petitioning Tip of the Week
Any college or university in your area is a prime petitioning location. During the day, just place yourself in front of the Student Union building. In the evenings, in front of the library. Masses of signatures can be yours—just be sure to ask students to write the address where they are registered to vote. Frequently, it's their parent's address, not where they are staying currently. Our thanks to Scott Kohlhaas for this tip.
Collecting Petition Signatures
If you haven't started petitioning yet, give it a try! We need every signature we can get from volunteers across Illinois. Everything you need is available from our website, LPIllinois.org, on the Petition Drive page, including the petition form, Five Steps to Petitioning Success, and Petitioning FAQs. Print a few petitions and collect your first signature today!
How You Can Turn $1000 into $5000
Based on our membership survey and chapter responses, we are planning for Illinois volunteers to collect 10,000 signatures for the drive. That leaves the remaining 32,000 signatures to be collected by independent contractors. If you are not planning to donate at least 100 signatures yourself, we ask you to donate money to the drive, so we can pay others to collect signatures for you.
Because getting Libertarian candidates on the ballot in Illinois is so important, the Libertarian National Committee is matching each $1 contribution to our drive with $1.50. So that means if you pledge $100, you have really generated $250 for the drive. This past week we received a check for $500, which was turned into $1,250. The more you give, the more Illinois receives from National, so pull out your checkbook or credit card right now to cash in.
But before you decide how much to give, there is one other match you should know about. We have a $1000 Illinois matching donation waiting to be claimed. So, if you donate $1000, it will be matched by our anonymous donor to make it $2000. That $2000 will be matched by National with $3000. That makes the total FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. You can personally be the catalyst for that $5000 donation, but only if you are the first to seize the opportunity and tell us you are claiming the $1000 donation match.
Together, we can get our candidates on the ballot in Illinois. Whether your donation is $1000, $500, $100 or $50, send your check today to Libertarian Party of Illinois, P.O. Box 1605, Chicago, IL 60690-1605. You can also donate safely and conveniently online at our website, LPIllinois.org.
Presidential Candidate Debate
Speaking of getting candidates on our ballot to vote for, Third Party Watch has video of the Presidential Debate this past weekend at the Heartland Libertarian Conference. (You do have to scroll half way down the page to find it.)
The candidates who participated are: Mike Gravel, Mary Ruwart, Christine Smith, Mike Jingozian, Wayne Allyn Root, and George Phillies. Check it out and learn more about some of the top-notch candidates that are vying for the LP Presidential nomination this year.
Libertarians in the Sensible Center
Speaking of Mike Gravel, he is a former U.S. Democratic Senator from Alaska. Another recent convert to the Libertarian Party is Bob Barr, former U.S. Republican Congressman from Georgia, who is also contemplating a Presidential run.
Both came to the realization that the Libertarian way is the best way to secure America's future. That these two prominent U.S. statesmen, one from the left and the other from the right, have joined us, just goes to show that Libertarians occupy the sensible center of American politics. Download the Sensible Center flyer from our website's About Us, Leader Resources page and share it with a friends who think the only choice is left vs. right. People are abandoning those options in droves and joining the liberty movement.
State Organizing Committee Meeting
If you would like to be an Illinois delegate at the upcoming, and sure to be exciting, National Convention, now is the time to get on the list. Delegates will determine the LP President and Vice President nominees as well as set the national platform. To request delegate status, contact State Chair, Val Vetter, at 800-735-1776.
Potential delegates will be nominated at the State Organizing Committee meeting, April 20th in Bloomington. Among other business, we'll have several notaries there, so all members are welcome to attend and turn in the signatures they have collected so far for the petition drive.
The drive will be 1/3 over on April 24, so if you have pledged signatures, make sure you are on track to deliver your first third at the meeting, either in person or through your local petition coordinator or chapter representative.
Belated April Fools
April Fools Day is past, but this satire by The Onion is too good to pass up: Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early. Warning: anyone concerned about the security of federally-mandated computerized election machines may find it too painfully close to the truth to watch.