Doug McNeil of Baltimore, Maryland, died on April 2. He was Maryland’s leading force for ballot access improvement during the last thirty years. Before 1998, Maryland had the nation’s second-worst ballot access laws for minor party and independent candidates, for office other than president. Doug was a Libertarian Party member who worked very well with independents and members of other parties. He lead Maryland activists as they successfully persuaded the legislature to make a major improvement in 1998, and then persuaded the state’s highest state court to make an even bigger improvement in 2003.

Doug was diagnosed with cancer in January 2016. Doug had a masterful knowledge of Maryland ballot access laws, and they have been among the nation’s most confusing and convoluted of any state’s laws. Doug had wonderful people skills, which paid off through the long years of lobbying the Maryland legislature.