LP Illinois News - March 2008 #2
Vote Libertarian Illinois Petition Drive Begins
Libertarians across the country are working together to get our candidates for U.S. President, Vice President, and Senate on the ballots of Illinois voters. Success requires us to collect 42,000 petition signatures between March 25 and June 15. That's over 500 signatures per day, every day. Here's how you can contribute:
- Collect signatures. It's not hard to ask people to sign a petition. You just need to be at least 18, a U.S. citizen, and not have circulated petitions for other political parties in this election cycle. All the information to get started is available on our Petition Drive webpage, including the petition form, Five Steps to Petitioning Success, and Petitioning FAQs. Print up a few petitions and start collecting signatures today!
- Donate to the drive. For every signature we cannot obtain through volunteers, we must pay contractors to obtain for us. We expect our costs to average $1.80 for each signature. So, for example, a donation of $360 would pay for 200 signatures, $180 brings 100 signatures, $90 for 50 signatures, or $45 for 25 signatures. You can donate through our website or by mailing a check to: Libertarian Party of Illinois, P.O. Box 1605, Chicago, IL 60690-1605. We have contractors starting today, so please send a generous contribution today to help pay for them.
- Volunteer your time. We need people to coordinate signature collection, mentor newbie petitioners, notarize petitions, stuff envelopes, and more. For more information, visit the Petition Drive page on LPIllinois.org or contact VLI Chair, Crystal Jurczynski, at VLI@LPIllinois.org or 630-876-1935.
Training Teleconference
There will be a conference call on Thursday, March 27th from 7 -7:30 p.m. to review the Five Steps to Petitioning Success and answer any questions about collecting signatures or the petition drive in general. To join in, all you have to do is call 218-486-1300 a few minutes early and enter the bridge number 355861. (Each person is responsible for the cost of their own call.) If you can't make the call, contact Crystal with any questions you have.
Pledge Challengers Searching for Liberty Champions
We still have 2 challenge pledges looking for takers: our first is an anonymous $1000 pledge if matched by another individual $1000 pledge. The second is by Julie Fox, who has pledged to collect 500 signatures, but will collect another 500 if someone will match her 1000 signature pledge.
Liberty champions are being sought to take up these challenges. Call 800-735-1776 or email VLI@LPIllinois.org to stake your claim.
Publicity
We have a press release going out about the Vote Libertarian Illinois Petition Drive. If you see an article about it in any newspaper, please let Crystal know. You can also help spread the word about the drive with your family and friends by forwarding this email to them. Also, links posted to our website and Petition Drive page are greatly appreciated.
Call for Contractors
Honest, friendly, and dependable contractors are needed to collect signatures. Interested people can start by reviewing the Independent Contractor Information available from our website on the Petition Drive page. Affiliation with the Libertarian Party, willingness to donate signatures to the drive, as well as petitioning experience are preferred, but not required.
Prize Contest
Contractors are expensive, but necessary, with the large number of signatures we need to gather and the short amount of time we have available. However, we can minimize the number of contractor signatures needed by maximizing the number of signatures volunteers collect. Remember: every volunteer signature frees up cash that donors could contribute to Libertarian campaigns.
So, the Vote Libertarian Illinois committee is offering a contest to help inspire volunteers to collect more signatures. The top volunteer circulators will receive:
1st Prize: Half-Ounce Gold Eagle Coin
2nd Prize: Quarter-Ounce Gold Eagle Coin
3rd Prize: Gold Package to the 2008 LP Illinois Convention
4th Prize: $50 LP Stuff Certificate
5th Prize: 1-Year Subscription to Reason Magazine
Of course, the prize we can all share is to stand in the voting booth on November 4th and vote Libertarian, knowing that we did our part to make it happen. If you haven't done it yet, please download the petition form and get your first signature right now or donate to the drive. We need your help to get on the ballot in November.