After its establishment with the appointment of a county party chair in February, the Libertarian Party of Harrison County held its first meeting Thursday to meet like-minded individuals and discuss ways to spread the message of liberty in the county.

I stepped up (because) our county needed someone to pull this together, said Michele Swint, county party chair.

Swint was appointed chairperson by State Chair Patrick Dixon on Feb. 6. Swint said local election statistics show that there are Libertarians that exist in the county; however, they had not before Thursday officially met with each other.

Nearly 30,000 ballots were cast by Harrison County voters in the general election (in 2012), exceeding 2008s totals by more than 1,500 ballots she said, citing a Nov. 17, 2012, article in the Marshall News Messenger regarding election results.

What I find most interesting about this article is the number of votes for Libertarian candidates, said Swint.

She said for U.S. President/Vice President, 158 ballots were cast for Libertarians Gary Johnson/Jim Gray. For the U.S. Representative District 1 race, 314 individuals voted for Libertarian John Jay Myers. For railroad commissioner, 366 voted for Libertarian Vivekananda Wall. For railroad commissioner unexpired term, 2,849 people voted for Libertarian Jaime O. Perez.

Were not alone, Swint said.

This proves Libertarians and libertarian thinkers are here, she said. We just need to find each other.

I want to find them, she said, asking attendees for their assistance. I want to change things in our county.

Swint said she was overjoyed that the first meeting was a success, drawing a roomful of attendees including the support of fellow party chairs Vance Lowry of Upshur County and Brandee Brown of Gregg County.

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Countys emerging Libertarian Party holds first meeting