1. Without an “Other Party” category, what is the mechanism there for minor parties to register their voters into it? i.e, how did the Libertarians get their foothold?

2. I’m not a huge fan of the Libertarian party, but they do tend to be very organized. Among minor parties I have worked with, they were quite organized.

3. What capacity did you work with the Libertarian Party?

4. ANOTHER UPDATED PURGE LIST

   — REMEMBER THE DEAD IN THE 6 JAN 2021 CAPITOL INVASION.

5. Andy

   I had a fling with libertarianism in high school/early college. I read Ayn Rand novels and a book on consensual crimes written by the late Peter McWilliams. I co-founded Friends of Democracy with an active LP student. The group existed to promote nonpartisan voter education and election law reform issues, i.e. fairer ballot access laws. Now I vote for the Democrats (DFL in Minnesota) and basically agree with the party platform, but I am turned off by the far left and the far right. I am thinking about running in the DFL primary for a state or congressional seat to raise awarness about election law reform issues.

   Friends of Democracy also worked with third parties that wanted to bring a speaker onto campus or need help connecting with students. The Libertarian party was very organized and grateful for the opportunity to work with us on a number of occasions.

   I attended several LP meetings in Fargo, ND (I was going to college across the river in Moorhead, MN) and I also volunteered to help get a Libertarian party Congressional candidate on the ballot. The fact that the Fargo libertarians met at a delicious chinese food buffet helped. But the effort did not succeed. Minnesota has some very peculiar rules with regards to ballot access.

   My experience with the Green Party was much more of a mixed bag. Candidates would promise to show up for a debate or a lecture and then they would back out, at the last minute. Which made our group look unprofessional and a couple of times we had to spend our limited funds to rent a room. Rank and file members were nice, but mostly quit the party and decided to work within the DFL. One of the Greens I worked with has gone onto work at Fox News.

   The Constitution Party members I met were basically friendly (I think their platform is nutty), but they felt that the college student body was too liberal for them to work with us and assumed that I was a green party or a socialist party member because I once said that I personally did not want to live in a theocracy.

   Last, but not least, let us talk about the Socialist Workers Party members I worked with once. They publish a newspaper in Minneapolis and occasionally run candidates. Before the debate, which they almost backed out of at the last minute, we gave them a table in the student union to hand out literature and connect with students…They almost started a riot. nuff said.

6. What year did you meet with the Fargo Libertarians? I bet I know the Chinese restaurant you are talking about. Is it on Broadway Ave.? If so, I have eaten there. I did not go to any LP meetings there though..

7. Friends of Democracy was active from, roughly 1999 – 2005. The Chinese buffet in question is now a Japanese restaurant. Marty Risks was still involved in the ND libertarian party. I think his wife got sick of something, but he isn’t as involved as he was.

8. So does this mean that the Libertarian party in Nebraska is ballot qualified? One percent of registered voters seems like a decent enough threshold for a party.

9. @Tom,
   Yes the Nebraska LP is a qualified party. The requirement is to have at least 10,000 registrants – they are currently at 18,291. I think the Nebraska LP now has the highest percent reg libs of any state. Historically it was states in the rocky mountain west that have the highest percentage of reg libs, plus Alaska.

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