Wrights Campaign Wants to Occupy Ballot Access
BURNET, Texas (May 18) – Although Lee Wrights failed to win the Libertarian nomination for president, he and his campaign staff remain committed to guaranteeing the Libertarian Party is on the ballot in as many states as possible. So they have launched another project, Occupy Ballot Access, to fulfill or surpass their campaign promise to spend 10 percent of all campaign donations on ballot access.
“While the campaign for the nomination is over, the campaign to stop all war, to gain ballot access, and to win one million votes for the Libertarian candidate for president continues,” said Wrights. “It must continue. Not only because it's what my staff and I have pledged to do, but because it's right for the Libertarian Party and it's right for America."
To begin, Wrights 2012 is focusing on Illinois, where Campaign Manager Thomas Hill is coordinating a volunteer ballot access petition drive
“The campaign's goal is to inspire and motivate local Libertarians to take ownership of their party's petition drive,” said Hill “Volunteer signatures save the LP and it's donors money that can be used to help campaigns and affiliates grow and prosper.”
Thomas spent the past 23 months working as an unpaid volunteer managing Wrights presidential campaign. Less than a week after returning home from the LP nominating convention in Las Vegas, he agreed to launch Occupy Ballot Access to help the ongoing petitioning efforts already underway in Illinois.
Thomas has set up a website to serve as a nexus for the Illinois petition efforts. It includes a tool kit page with links to PDF formatted documents containing everything volunteers need.
Occupy Ballot Access is the third project the Wrights campaign has launched to support Libertarian Party candidates and affiliates in the 2012 election. They began by producing customizable videos, provided free of charge to candidates and affiliates. In January, the campaign started The Million Vote March to achieve the historic first of one million votes for the Libertarian presidential candidate.
The petition deadline is June 22, 2012. Illinois election law requires the party to collect 25,000 signatures, but Libertarians are aiming to collect 50,000 signatures to ward off challenges.
R. Lee Wrights has resumed his career as a libertarian writer and political activist living in Texas. He is currently the Vice Chairman of the Libertarian Party national committee. He is the co-founder and editor of the free speech online magazine Liberty For All. Contact Lee at rleewrights@gmail.com.
Brian Irving, press secretary
Lee Wrights for President 2012
919.538.4548