Remember you MUST ASK for a Libertarian ballot, do not just accept what is handed to you.
If you are told that is not possible or the poll worker acts confused contact LPO or FCLPO IMMEDIATELY. All poll workers should be trained to know and not impose their own bias on the process.
Franklin County Voters go to: FRANKLIN COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS
We’ve fielded a few questions about why it is important to have a vibrant and diverse County Central Committee. Beyond the vital roles CentCom provides for electing the Executive Committee, endorsing candidates and approving By-Law amendments, it also functions as a reliable pool of Libertarian Party affiliated electors for candidate and issue petitions.
Anyone that has spent any time collecting signatures for petition knows the unique struggle the process involves. Asking, getting a yes, checking a person is eligible, getting a valid signature, filling out the form, all steps that could cause trouble down the road.
As the Franklin County Libertarian Party grows and flexes is political abilities, we will benefit from more hands pushing and eyes watching for opportunity.
Growing our Central Committee is crucial to growing a strong and dynamic Libertarian Party.
We cannot do this without you and thank you sincerely for your effort. It is appreciated. #VoteLibertarian
– Michael Sweeney
Chair, Executive Committee
Franklin County Libertarian Party of Ohio
We are pleased to report that the Franklin County Board of Elections has accepted our plan to be included in the March 17th, 2020 Ohio primary election.
Seven years, $250 thousand dollars, hundreds of volunteer hours and 102 thousand signatures from liberty minded Ohioans. This is what it has taken for the Libertarian Party of Ohio to be recognized and allowed to participate in Ohio public elections again.
We have pushed this as far as we can. We need you to take the next step and lead the Franklin County Libertarians to success.
I am inviting you to get involved and submit the linked Declaration of Candidacy to become a member of the Franklin County Libertarian Party Central Committee. Print out the form, fill it out, put it in an envelope, add a stamp and place it in the mail before Dec 18th. You do not need any signatures beyond your own! When your declaration is received by the Board of Elections you will show them that Libertarians are more then arm-chair activists; we are in our communities, contributing and working.
What does it mean to be a Central Committee Member?
Partisan Duties & Responsibilities
Here is a list of opportunities for every township or ward committee member.
Represent the Township or Ward to the Party
Attend meetings of the Libertarian Central Committee to organize and supervise the County Libertarian Party operations and to endorse candidates (3 or 4 a year).
Vote in the election of local Libertarian Township or Ward Leaders.
Participate in local and county meetings and events.
Local Non-Partisan Leadership
As a Central Committee Member in your ward or township, you are a leader in your neighborhood regardless of the strength of our party in your community. You will find that candidates and public officials of all parties will be interested in your ideas as to what needs to be done in your community.
We have little time for this crucial next step. The filing deadline, Dec 18th, is fast approaching. We need as many Libertarians as possible to make their voices heard and loudly show the establishment that we will not be silenced or held back.
We are counting on you to move the Franklin County Libertarian Party forward again.
Thanks in advance.
Your colleague in liberty,
Michael Sweeney
Chair, Executive Committee
Franklin County Libertarian Party of Ohio
The Franklin County Libertarian Party of Ohio Central Committee is organized around wards or township.
If you live in a city such as Columbus, Dublin, Gahanna, Westerville, Grove City, etc, you will fill in the line:
• Ward ________ City or Village of __________
If you do not live in a city, but an unincorpo- rated area of a township then fill in the line:
• Township of __________
Not sure what ward or township you live in? Look it up.
Volunteer Appreciation Party, Dec 13th 7pm The FCLP will be holding our monthly social and celebrate our wonderful volunteers and candidates at Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse, 3055 Indianola Ave, Columbus. Celebrate our fantastic volunteers with food, drinks, door prizes and raffle! A years worth of hard work, knocking on doors, spreading liberty and getting it done! Stay till 11pm and catch The Killer Raccoons 2 movie!
Columbus, Ohio – In the first local election cycle since regaining ballot access, the Libertarian Party of Ohio celebrated five wins on Tuesday’s election night. The two biggest wins are Mayor Elect Cassandra Fryman of Plymouth, Ohio and Mayor Elect Daniel Harmon of Thornville, Ohio. Winning re-election are Huber Heights Councilman Glenn Otto and Gasper Township Trustee Eric White. Also winning is Michael Chumley being elected to the West Clermont School District Board of Education.
Also making great strides in Northeast Ohio is Brandon Bobbit who ran for Elyria City Council in the 7th Ward. He made recent history by taking the largest percentage of the vote in a partisan race for the Libertarian Party of Ohio since 2014. Elyria, you haven’t seen the last of Brandon. In a statement by his campaign last night “…we will continue to find ways to serve this community (Elyria).” Also in Northeast Ohio, State Central Committee member Joseph Loyd was defeated for Chardon City School Board, but managed to help win the fight against a $76 million bond issue.
Central Ohio also had its fair share of bittersweet news on election night. Long time Libertarian activist Tricia Sprankle, lost her race for Gahanna City Attorney to a massive old party machine. Having raised an unheard of amount of donations for a City Attorney race, she only lost by 854 votes and pulled in 44.56% of the votes cast. Franklin County Libertarian Party’s other major race was Jennifer Flower. Her long fought battle for Prairie Township Trustee ended with her in second place in a 4 way race with 30% of the vote. Over in Coshocton County, Former State Central Committee member Robert Leist took 16% of the vote in a 5 way race for Coschocton City Council at Large.
As you may recall, the Libertarian Party of Ohio regained ballot access in the summer of 2018 when it turned in over 102,000 signatures from citizens from all 88 counties. Since regaining ballot access, the LPO has run over 30 candidates for Federal, State, and Local offices. In order to retain ballot access the Libertarian Party Presidential nominee will have to obtain 3% of the votes cast in the State of Ohio. Find out more about the Libertarian Party of Ohio by visiting www.lpo.org or emailing info@lpo.org
If you live in Central Ohio and would like to lobby the General Assembly, LPO is looking for a volunteer lobbyist to do just that.
Basic requirements are: business casual attire, be polite but persuasive, be available to attend (and sometimes testify in) legislative hearings on less than a week’s notice, and live in Central Ohio. Selected person will be trained to identify bills of interest to us, define action items for us to take in support or opposition to those bills, and will introduce the selected person to a group of Statehouse lobbyists who meet monthly and who can provide advice and support.
It can be a bit demanding from time to time — at other times, it can be very easy. Unfortunately, when the legislature is in session, you can’t always know which it will be.
Use our contact form below to learn more!
Here are some things you can do to help the Libertarian Party in Franklin County:
Volunteer. We need petition circulators, people to staff our booths at fairs and community events, host social and educational events, and raise money. If you have a special skill you would like to share with us, let us know that, too!
Run for office. We are looking for state House and Senate candidates in 2018, and for municipal and school board races in 2019. Don’t be shy — we can give you the help you need to get started.
Donate money. Every dollar you can give helps spread the cause of liberty!
Restoring liberty to Central Ohio will take many people with many talents!
Contact FCLPO
Mailing Address:
Franklin County Libertarian Party
c/o Ohio Libertarian Party
PO Box 29193
Columbus, Ohio 43229
Office Address:
Franklin County Libertarian Party
c/o Ohio Libertarian Party
6230 Busch Blvd, Suite 102
Columbus, Ohio 43229
The Ohio Supreme Court determined the elections board abused its discretion in the matter by acting more than two months after the primary and that the protestor had standing to challenge the signatures as a member of the Libertarian Party.
Earlier this year Rob Bender, Libertarian Candidate for Reynoldsburg City Council, Ward 3, was illegally and inappropriately removed from the November ballot by the untimely action of the Franklin County Board of Elections. Despite vigorous protest by Mr. Bender’s Lawyer during the two separate hearings the Board convened to discuss their actions, the Board members voted to hear a challenge to Mr. Bender’s previously certified ballot petition.
Mr. Bender and his lawyer appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, which, in an unusual swiftness, issued a unanimous rebuke to the Franklin County Board of Elections and granted Mr. Bender’s demand to be restored to the the ballot.
This is an unqualified victory for Libertarian Ballot Access in Ohio!
THE STATE EX REL. BENDER v. FRANKLIN COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS.
III. CONCLUSION
{¶ 17} Because no evidence established the protestor’s standing and because the time for sua sponte action by the board had passed, the board abused its discretion by removing Bender from the ballot. Accordingly, we issue a writ of mandamus ordering the board to reinstate Bender as a candidate for the November 2019 general election.
Writ granted. O’CONNOR, C.J., and FRENCH, FISCHER, DONNELLY, and STEWART, JJ.,
concur.
KENNEDY and DEWINE, JJ., concur in judgment only.
Since our founding in 1971, the Libertarian Party has held true to the platform of promoting civil liberties which inherently include same-sex marriage and individual expression and relationships. Our statement of principles reinforce and remind us of our primary purpose, liberty in our lifetime.
“The protection of individual rights is the only proper purpose of government. No conflict exists between civil order and individual rights. Both concepts are based on the same fundamental principle: that no individual, group, or government may initiate force against any other individual, group, or government. The government is instituted to protect individual rights. The government is constitutionally limited so as to prevent the infringement of individual rights by the government itself.”
In our first national convention the Libertarian Party nominated the openly gay John Hospers to be our candidate for President of the United States. Hospers, and running mate Tonie Nathan, received an electoral vote by a faithless elector from Virginia, making him the first LGBT candidate (and Nathan the first female) to do so.
The 1976 presidential campaign further expanded on this position calling for a repeal of all laws governing consensual sexual relationships between adults.
After 40 tireless years promoting equality in opportunity the Libertarian Party is pleased to see so many of its positions adopted and enacted to protect and embrace our wonderful LGBTQ community.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF OHIO DATE: MAY 29, 2019
The Franklin County Board of Elections met on May 28, 2019, at 2:00 pm to consider a challenge to the candidacy of Libertarian candidate Rob Bender for Reynoldsburg Ward 3 City Council Representative.
The pretext of the challenge to Mr. Bender is the validity of his candidate petition signatures and the Minor Party status of the Libertarian Party to field candidates under Ohio law. The Ohio GOP has a long history of challenging Libertarian candidates in order to preserve the two-party system.
The Administrator for the BOE verified, in the May 28 hearing, that the signatures are valid and sufficient for the candidacy. Unhappy with that answer, Board Member Doug Preisse (R) asked his employee if he would like to “change his mind.” The answer was, “no.”
Too bad Mr. Preisse.
The Libertarian Party of Ohio gained Minor Party status in July 2018 after submitting over 100,000 petition signatures as required under Ohio law. Minor Party status remains valid if either the party’s gubernatorial or presidential candidate earns at least 3% of the vote. Ohio law allows a Minor Party two election cycles to reach this threshold.
The 2016 Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson received 3.17% of votes in Ohio, yet was ruled to not have achieved the required 3%.
Libertarian Party attorney and Capital Law School professor Mark Brown represented Mr. Bender at the hearing. He directed the Board to the facts that the challenge on ballot access was made outside the time allowed for such challenges and the elector bringing forth the challenge is not a Libertarian. The challenger to the petition was not present at the hearing.
Franklin County Libertarian Party Chair, Michael Sweeney, said of the challenge,
“We know the law is on our side, but the Republican and Democratic Board Members are not. They appeared unprepared for this hearing, baffled by their own rules, and casually claimed the benefit of ignorance that they zealously deny others who come before them.”
The BOE will meet again on Monday, June 3, 2019, at 3pm to consider this matter, which was continued at the request of BOE attorney to review Ohio law.
The Libertarian Party of Ohio annual Conference will be held in Toledo on May 31 – June 1 and is open to the public.
For more information on ballot access laws or the GOP history of ballot censorship contact: