Libertarian Party of Georgia Pleased with General Election Results
The Libertarian Party of Georgia claims to have set new records in terms of the proportion of statewide support received by its candidates.
All ten of LPG’s statewide candidates got the support of more than one percent of registered voters, thus giving the party statewide ballot access as a political body in 2012 (that is, they again will not have to gather petitions for its statewide candidates, who are nominated by convention).
“John Monds, a candidate accustomed to making history, became the first gubernatorial candidate in Party history to eclipse the 100,000 vote mark while also setting the record for highest percentage of the vote as well with 4.0%, besting Garrett Michael Hayes’ vote total in 2006 by 26%,” LPG said in a statement.
John Monds in 2008 set the record for any Libertarian candidate running statewide–or even nationwide, in history–when running for Public Service Commission District 1. He received over 1,076,000 votes. He was one of only two candidates on the ballot; there was not Democrat in the race.
“Joining Mr. Monds in setting the office record and percent of vote were Secretary of State candidate David Chastain, Agriculture Commissioner candidate Kevin Cherry, and Insurance Commissioner candidate Shane Bruce.” Thus, new statewide records were set for Secretary of State, Commissioner of Agriculture, and Commissioner of Insurance- both in terms of raw vote and percentage totals.
“Election night’s highest vote-getter came from political newcomer and State School Superintendent candidate, Kira Willis, as she earned a total just shy of 125,000 votes in her bid for office.” This is the most a School Superintendent candidate has ever received for the party in terms of number of votes. However, when Chastain ran in 2006 he had fewer votes but a higher percentage of votes, because turnout was actually lower than year.
“A lot of it has to do with the first time we’ve had a full state of candidates. I think a lot of people are interested in the Libertarian message, the idea of smaller government and lower taxes is becoming more mainstream,” Brett Bittner, Operations Director of the LPG, told APN.
“Their dissatisfaction [with Georgia’s two political parties] opened their eyes to the alternatives to the two parties, and I think it’s our message that converted those interested voters into voters.”