The North Dakota Libertarian Party achieved a new milestone in Tuesdays general election in garnering enough votes to attain its own column as a recognized party on the 2016 ballot.

According to North Dakota Century Code, a political party must attain at least 5 percent of the total votes cast in order to be a recognized party on the next elections ballot.

On Tuesday, the Libertarian Partys secretary of state candidate, Roland Riemers, took 5.3 percent of the vote according to unofficial results. In nonpresidential elections, parties must attain at least 5 percent for a partys candidate for attorney general or secretary of state to be recognized as a party.

In presidential elections parties must attain at least 5 percent for a partys candidate for president and vice president or governor to be recognized as a party.

Riemers vote total achieves this requirement for the first time in the state partys history.

Weve been working on this for the last 15 to 20 years. It gives us credibility, Riemers said.

In the past, the Libertarian Party has had to get candidates on the ballot by circulating petitions, according to Riemer, who said gaining access as a recognized party will allow the party to save the time and money in building its organization and candidate recruitment.

Well pretty much have to commit ourselves to the statewide races until the party grows enough, Riemers said.

To maintain its status beyond 2016, the Libertarians will need to maintain at least 5 percent of the vote in at least one of the designated races in presidential and nonpresidential election cycles in future elections.

I dont think it changes things too much moving forward, Jason Flohrs, North Dakota Republican Partys executive director, said.

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Libertarians to be recognized on 2016 ballot

Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Kathie Glass of McDade and Democratic candidate for District 17 state representative Carolyn Banks of Bastrop were each defeated Tuesday night after mounting grassroots campaigns against well-known challengers, but they didnt lose the spirit that led them to run for office.

While watching the votes trickle in on Tuesday, both women said they had wanted to give voters an alternative choice to the status quo, and had done their best to raise awareness with limited resources.

Unofficial voting totals with 54.66 percent of precincts reporting showed Glass with 44,688 votes, or 1.27 percent in an election where headlines were largely dominated by Democrat Wendy Davis and Reublican Greg Abbott, who won the governors race with 2,115,137 votes (60.46 percent).

Glass, who said she visited every county in Texas in an effort to raise awareness about her candidacy and conservative platform, said she believed the lack of media attention to Libertarian and Green candidates contributed to Abbotts landslide win.

That Texas had a Libertarian or Green candidate in nearly every race offered Glass little solace, she said. Running on a platform based on pushing back against what she called a tyrannical federal government, the attorney and business owner said she was disappointed in the returns and had hoped to present more of a challenge to Davis and Abbott.

Its good that there are more candidates here, she explained. But the media makes it look like there are only two people running. How do we break out? People need to know that they have three or four choices, not just two.

Its very frustrating. I went to 254 counties to try to get the word out. Many people who heard me speak agreed with me, but until I visited, didnt know who I was. They thought there were only two candidates.

Banks fared a little better in her bid to unseat incumbent Tim Kleinschmidt. Banks unofficially had 7,709 votes (34 percent) with 47 percent of precincts reporting, according to unofficial totals.

The 73-year-old retiree had hopes but no expectations of winning, she said. She said just wanted to make sure Kleinschmidt didnt run unopposed. She took issue with his voting record, including his support of doing away with the free breakfast program in schools, she explained.

I was hoping to be in a position to offer a different point of view in the House, said Banks, whose resume includes being an erstwhile regular contributor to the Bastrop Advertiser. I said at the outset, Im not a politician. I hope the Democratic party has already begun fielding candidates for 2016.

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Bastrop-area candidates show spirit in gubernatorial, house elections

CLEARWATER (FOX 13) -

Libertarian Gubernatorial candidate Adrian Wyllie spent election night with his supporters at Sea Dog Brewing Company in Clearwater.

Though he was a distant third in the race for Governor, he still called Tuesday night a "victory party."

The crowd of 60-plus knew coming into it that a win was a long-shot. Still, they celebrated a win they call progress.

There were cheers and a few beers as Wyllie took the final sip in his run for governor, and thanked his supporters.

"This was about a mission, a message, restoring prosperity to and freedom to the people of Florida," Wyllie said. "And, it was you guys that made this happen."

The gathering at Sea Dog was the culmination of two years and 100,000 miles of campaigning.

"The guy is dynamic and he is genuine," said Patrick Kerr, a Wyllie supporter.

While the Libertarian didn't come close to winning the election, Wyllie still calls it a victory in showing voters that there are more than two parties in Florida.

"It shows that although we may not be all the way there with them on a level playing field, that we are beginning to break through the glass ceiling, beginning to break down the barriers put in our way by the Republican and Democratic parties," Wyllie said.

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Wyllie: election was about more than two parties

By Sharon Nunn | Published 11/03/14 12:57am

Sean Haugh, North Carolina Libertarian Senate candidate, has the power to swing the vote in this year's election between Republican candidate Thom Tillis and Democrat candidate Kay Hagan who are currently in a statistical dead heat.

The 53-year-old pizza-delivering Libertarian candidate running for U.S. Senate against Thom Tillis and Kay Hagan says he doesnt want any part of the campaigns negativity and attack ads.

In light of a recent analysis that found North Carolinas Senate race has featured more negative ads than any other state, Sean Haugh said in an interview on Friday that his campaign has focused on the positive reasons N.C. residents should vote for him.

Haugh, a Durham resident, thinks Tilliss and Hagans negative ads will help him in the race.

People look at that, and theyre just so disgusted by it, and then they find out they have a third choice on the ballot, he said. Ive been getting a tremendous response from people who are turned off by all that negativity.

It is Haughs sixth time running for political office. He said he has always stood for Libertarian views.

We need to balance the budget at a much lower level, get out in front of this debt and let people keep more of the money that they earn, he said.

AlthoughHaugh has garnered at most 8 percent of the vote in polls this fall, he said the people who vote for him send a strong message to Democrats and Republicans that theyre going to have to start holding more Libertarian views.

He said he ran on an act of conscience because neither Hagan nor Tillis would try to curb war.

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US Senate candidate and pizza delivery man reflects on campaign

Lot #39;s of baba booey radio prank calls to Texas Libertarian program
Multiple radio prank calls.

By: The Telephone Universe

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Lot's of baba booey radio prank calls to Texas Libertarian program - Video

The Libertarian Angle: IRS Thievery
The Libertarian Angle: IRS Thievery.

By: The Future of Freedom Foundation

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The Libertarian Angle: IRS Thievery - Video

Almost no one seriously thinks that Sean Haugh will be the next senator from North Carolina. But political observers in both major parties are worried that the pizza deliveryman and Libertarian candidate could siphon enough votes to sway the election, likely to be one of the closest in the country on Tuesday. And stakes couldnt be higher: any one election could determine control of the Senate in 2015.

But which party has more to fear from Haugh? Kentucky Senator Rand Paul campaigned for Republican nominee Thom Tillis in early October, a move seen as an attempt to shore up Libertarian-leaning Republican voters. More recently, the American Future Fund, a conservative outside spending group, bet $225,000 that Haugh could flip the election in the Republicans with an ad campaign focused on his unembarrassed enthusiasm for marijuana, aimed to draw away younger supporters of Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan.

Though Haugh is currently polling at around 5 percentmore than the margin between Tillis and Haganhe is very unlikely to spoil anything other than the hopes of a few misled pot smokers. While the threat of spoiler candidates makes for breathless headlines and titillating front-page reads, the real odds of this happening are extremely slim.

For starters, it is very rare for a Congressional contest to be decided by a margin small enough for a third-party candidate to make a difference. Of the 1,873 elections that TIME examinedevery House and Senate race going back to 2006, not including special elections and runoffsonly 70 were won with less than 50 percent of the vote. A Libertarian candidate ran in 46 of them.

The threat of a spoiler candidate is further exaggerated by the common assumption that third-party voters would otherwise turn up at the polls at all.

Thats the old style to think about voting, says Stanford professor Jon Krosnick, a social psychologist and polling expert. Weve now come to recognize that the candidates influence turnout. The presence of the third-party candidate can lure people to vote who otherwise wouldnt have voted at all.

Its impossible to know with any precision how people would have behaved without the presence of a third-party candidate. Even asking them in polls is unreliable, given that pollsters typically report unrealistically high turnout figures when they ask people if they voted.

The picture is confounded yet further by the fact that a distaste for the major parties is often the motivation that draw a person to a third-party candidate in the first place.

Thats a view shared by Emily Salvette, who drew 10,630 votes as a Libertarian in the 2012 race for Michigans 1st District. I do honestly think that a lot of people wouldnt have voted, she says. Theyre not engaged anymore because they dont like the choice. The Republican in that contest, Congressman Dan Benishek, edged out his Democratic challenger by 1,881 votes.

Depending whose base you think Salvette drew from, you might call her either a spoiler or nearly one. But Salvette says she saw support from voters with a variety of viewpoints, including people who supported her views on everything from medical marijuana to gun rights.

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These 9 Slides Show the Surprisingly Low Impact of Libertarian Candidates

Blair YankeyWestern Herald Intern

Libertarian candidate Scotty Boman will make his second run for lieutenant governor alongside running mate gubernatorial candidate Mary Buzuma in the Nov. 4 election.

Scotty Boman Photo Courtesy

Boman is a Detroit native and a Western Michigan University alumnus. He earned his bachelors degree with a double major in physics and philosophy and a minor in mathematics in 1985, followed by a masters degree in atomic physics in 1987.

In 2006, he was gubernatorial candidate Gregory Creswells running mate in the gubernatorial election.He has been a candidate in every statewide partisan election since 1994 when he ran for State Representative in the seventh district.

Boman currently serves as a physics and math instructor at Wayne County Community College and an astronomy and physics instructor at Macomb Community College. He also substitute teaches in a few suburban districts in the Detroit area.

Below, Boman answers questions on topics regarding his qualifications, his plans to keep college graduates in Michigan and the importance of voting among young college students.

Q: What qualities do you believe you have to be lieutenant governor?

A: A passion for individual liberty and an understanding of what that means. I recognize that there is a great abyss between the government Michiganders have and the one [Mary Buzuma and I] would like to see. So I am willing to work with people who dont share our political belief in areas that can move us in the direction of a smaller, less intrusive, government.

I also have some administrative experience on a much smaller scale as former chair of the Libertarian Party of Michigan and as vice chair. I have also served on my student council when I attended graduate school at Wayne State University. These are small scale examples and we would appoint people who were experts in state government to whom we could delegate tasks.

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Libertarian candidate to make second run in the November election

CLEARWATER (FOX 13) -

While Florida Gubernatorial candidates Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democrat Charlie Crist made their final stops around the state on Monday, Libertarian Adrian Wyllie spent a low-key day at home in Palm Harbor, gearing up for Election Day.

You may not have heard his name as often as Scott or Crist, but for the past two years, Wyllie has been criss-crossing the state, shaking a lot of hands and sharing a couple beers along the way.

"It's been a lot of time on the road," Wyllie said.

He's traveled 100,000 miles to be exact, with just a handful of paid staff members.

"Win or lose, we really think that we've shown the people of Florida that it is a three-party state. The two-party duopoly is over," Wyllie said.

The latest Quinnipiac voters poll projects Wyllie at seven percent, with Crist at 42% and Scott at 41%. That last nine percent goes to the undecided voters.

Monday night, Libertarian groups around the country joined together to drop a "Twitter bomb, flooding the internet with tweets in support of Wyllie and other like-minded candidates.

"We have seen so many people who say they are coming out to vote for the first time, specifically because they feel like they have something to vote for, instead of having to vote for the lesser of two evils," Wyllie said.

Though Barbara Davis of Clearwater is a registered Republican, she finally got fed up with the attack ads -- so she's switching up her vote.

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For Libertarian Adrian Wyllie, victory in offering an alternative

Four Goals of a Principled Anarchist/Libertarian
1.) The Moral Argument 2.) The Practical Argument 3.) Spend Govt. $$ 4.) Assist the State in its Path to Destruction. I summarized parts of what Ben Stone di...

By: Katy Khaos

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Four Goals of a Principled Anarchist/Libertarian - Video

Agora Underground: New Libertarian Manifesto Pt. 5
The Voluntary Virtues Network is a voluntaryist network, and is comprised of hundreds of different individuals. Their voices are their voices, not the networks. VVN is simply a platform for...

By: Voluntary Virtues Network

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Agora Underground: New Libertarian Manifesto Pt. 5 - Video

CHICAGO (WLS) --

Libertarian party candidate Chad Grimm, 33, is the other name on the ballot for Illinois governor.

"I think the citizens of Illinois are actually ready for a third party," Grimm says. "It's right now."

Grimm says the more voters see of Democrat Pat Quinn and Republican Bruce Rauner in television ads, the less they like either major party candidate.

"Everybody that I talk to is sick of it," he says. "They're sick of the negative ads, they're sick of the negativity."

Grimm is a Peoria resident who spent much of his childhood in north suburban Lake Zurich. As a Libertarian, his position against abortion is based on science as opposed to religion.

"Nobody has been able to show me scientifically that life does not begin at conception and you always have to err on the side of life," he says.

He also is a gun rights supporter and believes drug use should be de-criminalized.

"You don't take someone with a disease and put them in jail and make their life that much worse," he says.

The Illinois Observer's "We Ask America" automated poll last week showed Grimm trailing Quinn and Rauner with 5.6 percent of the vote. But challenger Rauner--campaigning in Chicago Thursday--said a vote for Grimm is actually a vote to keep Quinn in the governor's office.

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Libertarian Chad Grimm could impact governor's race

Published: Saturday, November 1, 2014 at 9:00 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, October 31, 2014 at 9:50 p.m.

Two Democrats and a Libertarian are running grass-roots campaigns aimed at unseating incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise in the 1st Congressional District in Tuesday's election.

Vying for the seat are Democrats Lee Ann Dugas and M.V. Vinny Mendoza, as well as Libertarian Jeffry

Sanford.

The district includes southern Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, the parishes of Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany, and portions of Jefferson, Orleans and Tangipahoa parishes.

Scalise, 49, was first elected to the 1st Congressional District in May 2008 when he won a special election to

fill the seat after it was vacated by Bobby Jindal.

Since his election this year as majority whip, the third most powerful member in the Republican-led House, Scalise has raised his national profile and added significantly to his campaign bank account.

His opponents, who have never held public office, have not reported any campaign contributions to the Federal Election Commission this year.

Scalise heads the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of more than 170 conservative members of the House,

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Congressman draws three challengers

A Libertarian state representative candidate has not been elected in New Hampshire in 14 years, but Lisa Wilber is persistent.

She was not elected when she first ran for state representative in 2000 or in each consecutive election since then but she continues to run on the Libertarian Party ticket, this year for the eighth time.

Wilber, 51, of Weare is the only state representative candidate running as a registered Libertarian in New Hampshire this year, although she said that other libertarians are running as either Democrats or Republicans.

She is seeking a state representative seat in Hillsborough County District 2 which serves Deering and Weare against three Democrats and three Republicans, including two incumbents. Republican Christine Ivinjack is also running a write-in campaign for a seat in the district; Ivinjack, a Weare resident, ran in the September primary election but did not receive enough votes to get on the ballot.

Three state representative seats are open in the district.

They make it so hard to be anything but the two parties, and the two parties arent that different anymore, Wilber said. If I wanted to run as a Democrat or Republican, you just go up to the town hall and pay $2.

Wilber said that as a third party candidate, in addition to paying the $2 administrative assessment fee, she had to collect 150 signatures before she could file her candidacy.

You have to go through so much to run as a Libertarian, she said.

Steve Vaillancourt was the last Libertarian candidate elected to a state representative seat. Vaillancourt was elected to represent Hillsborough County District 44 Manchester Ward 8 in the 2000 general election; he currently represents the same ward (now Hillsborough Country District 15) as a Republican.

The Libertarian Partys slogan is minimum government, maximum freedom. Wilbers personal platform is focused on freedom and personal responsibility.

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Lone Libertarian looks to claim state rep seat

Here I will show you how to say #39;libertarian #39; with Zira.mp4
Compare prices of hotel rooms! http://tinyurl.com/q93wtj4 This video teaches you how to say or pronounce common english words.

By: Pronounce words

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Here I will show you how to say 'libertarian' with Zira.mp4 - Video

Libertarian Rocket Fail
Libertarians attempt to add credibility to their movement by attempting to send supplies to the International Space Station.

By: Charles Topher - Ifyouonlynews.com

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Libertarian Rocket Fail - Video

Voters will go to the polls in less than a week and most will choose Democrats or Republicans up and down their ballots.

Third party candidates are a considered a long shot to win an election, but Libertarians continue to make their case to voters during each election cycle.

Dr. Lee Hieb is the Libertarian candidate for Iowa Governor.

If you like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, youll like us. Were basically the constitutional, limited government people, Hieb said. Less government, more freedom.

The Libertarian Party has been nominating candidates for office since the early 70s and call for a massive reduction in the size of government. At a national level, they generally support scrapping the current tax system and replacing it with the fair tax, abolishing the welfare state, allowing people to opt-out of social security, drug legalization, gun rights, strong protection of civil liberties, free trade and many more proposals to shrink government.

Libertarians tend to want minimalist government, said David Andersen, ISU assistant professor of political science. They want little government intervention on every facet of life. No regulation of your social life, your personal life, your economic life, lower taxation, everything.

Andersen says Libertarians may appeal to college students and some wealthy independents.

For college students, he says once they enter the real world, they see a need for more government.

On education issues, an important one to ISU students, Libertarians want government out of the way.

Before the government got involved in education, it was relatively cheap [to go to college], Hieb said. As they give you money (student loans, grants), the regulations come in excess of that money.

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Libertarian candidates make their case to voters

The Phoenix speaks with Democratic candidate Pat Quinn and Libertarian candidate Chad Grimm. Republic candidate Bruce Rauner did not respond to Phoenix requests.

Courtesy of Chad Grimm for Governor // Facebook

When Chad Grimm answered the phone, he was just getting to the office after a day of campaigning. Eight speeches at a school in his hometown of Peoria in central Illinois hadnt tired his voice.

The Libertarian was the only candidate for the gubernatorial elections to respond to The Phoenixs many interview requests. One-line email responses with a phone number and availability, no header, no campaign slogan or jab at another candidate evidenced the different campaign he was set to run.

Grimm, who unsuccessfully ran for state legislator in 2012 and for Peorias City Council in 2013, has been looking to elbow his way along the gubernatorial race, running a long-shot campaign against incumbent governor Patrick Quinn, a Democrat, and Republican businessman Bruce Rauner.

Im not running against Bruce Rauner; Im not running against Pat Quinn. Im running for the people of Illinois, Grimm said, repeating, like he has in most of his media interactions, what has been a poster slogan for his campaign.

Behind his energetic voice, the sound of someone jump-roping called attention to the candidates latest job health club manager that, intentionally or not, rings of belittlement. Grimm, who spent his childhood and teenage years shuttling between Peoria, where his father lived, and the northwest suburbs of Chicago where he lived with his mother, pursued an acting and broadcasting career before getting into management.

Grimm was quick to admit, perhaps inadvertently, his lack of political experience. His managerial background helps, but a state such as Illinois is different from anything he has managed in the past 15 years. In technical terms, he explained the difference.

What Republicans will talk about, and it sounds good, is that they want to run the state like a business. They say that a lot, and I think what they really mean at times gets lost because you dont want to run a state like a business because a business is for profit. Government is for people, he said. You want to be able to pay your bills, you want to be able to pay for the things that you need, but you dont want to create a surplus.

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Libertarian candidate Chad Grimm sits down with the Phoenix

John Sullivan--Conservative-Libertarian Director of America-Imagine The World Without Her #2331
John Sullivan directed America: Imagine the World Without Her and 2016: Obama #39;s America. He #39;s a bit of a rarity, a conservative living and working in Hollywo...

By: FSN GoldandSilver

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John Sullivan--Conservative-Libertarian Director of America-Imagine The World Without Her #2331 - Video

Leon County Libertarian Executive Committee Live Event (RAW)

By: LCLEC

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Leon County Libertarian Executive Committee Live Event (RAW) - Video