In a surprising move, Secretary of State Bill Galvin has allowed the signatures for the second phase of the Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) ballot drive to be collected electronically. This drive is extremely important for the future of the Libertarian Party.
When Justin Amash announced his interest in becoming the Libertarian candidate for President, there was an immediate outcry from Democrats and Republicans alike, calling him a "spoiler" and claiming he would steal votes from their candidates. No matter whether Amash or any of our other worthy candidates is chosen at the Libertarian National Convention (now scheduled to begin online on May 22), this argument will eclipse all others, and our candidate will draw the wrath of the main stream. The widespread adoption of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) will eliminate this argument forever.
RCV has been used in several U.S. municipalities for many years, and was adopted statewide in Maine in 2016 and overwhelmingly in New York City in 2019. When Massachusetts passes RCV this November, it will trigger a cascade of success in other states. If timid liberty-minded voters are able to rank the lesser of two evils as a backup #2, worthy candidates will no longer consider the Libertarian Party a lost cause.
In order to earn RCV a place on the November 3, 2020 ballot, the people must submit a second round of 13,374 valid signatures by June 17. The campaign kicked off the signature drive on May 6th and we need thousands of MA voters to sign the RCV petition electronically from home.
As you may know, volunteers from Voter Choice for Massachusetts, the organization driving the RCV campaign, made history last fall when they submitted 111,000 certified signatures to the Secretary of the Commonwealth; the most ever by a Massachusetts ballot initiative campaign. The Libertarian Party of Massachusetts has supported RCV since 2019, and we are proud to be part of this historic effort to give more voice to voters.
We hope you will take a minute to sign the RCV petition right now by clicking here, and please share this URL with your friends and family (sign.voterchoice2020.org) on Facebook or via email. Nothing like this has ever been done before, but with your help we can make history together.
If you would like to get involved to help safely gather signatures from your friends and neighbors, the campaign has the tools and training to support you. Please sign up here, or contact Brian Bass, Organizing Director for the RCV campaign, at [email protected]
