The Libertarian Party of Indiana will maintain ballot access for four more years because of their achievement of six percent in the Secretary of State race. Libertarian Mike Wherry earned 100,847 votes which is the highest number of votes cast for a single candidate in the LPIN’s history.
Automatic Ballot access is granted to a political party that reaches two percent of the vote while the ten percent mark enters a political party in to the primary system. In 2006, Mike Kole received 54,381 votes (3.3%). Rebecca Sink-Burris was the party’s candidate in 2002, and received 60,937 votes or (4.1%).
“Throughout the campaign, I can’t count the times I heard people say they agree with Libertarians, but feel they’re wasting a vote,” said Wherry. “Last night, we proved once again that our libertarian philosophy is spreading across the state. Our team topped 100,000 votes for the first time in the Secretary of State’s race. This means our county organizations and their candidates can continue their growth without the burden of petitioning.”
Wherry continues, “With municipal elections around the corner, maintaining our ballot access was critical. It’s this level where we stand to really see victories. Admittedly, it’s tough to compete in a statewide race as a third party. But, when put in a local race where we know our neighbors, have been active in service clubs, and our churches, we will be very tough competition. We can’t compete if we have to expend our resources just to get on the ballot. That’s why last night’s record vote total was so important.”
State Chair Sam Goldstein shared Wherry’s point of view.
“Ballot access is the key to our survival as the state’s only third party,” said Goldstein. “In many races across the state, we were the only competition in many local and state races. We view electoral competition to be as important to the health of Indiana as economic competition.”