I want to share some great news.
As you already know, the Federal Election Commission is trying to force me to repay $175,000 in public matching funding we spent to get on the ballot – over 5 years after the end of the 2016 election. This decision, if allowed to stand, would be disastrous for the future of independent politics.
But here’s the good part: Thanks to the outpouring of support we’ve already received, we’ve been able to bring two of the country’s leading democracy lawyers together on our legal team!
Oliver Hall and Harry Kresky have each won critical legal fights for our democracy over the past two decades. Having them on our team gives us a fighting chance to win our case that is so critical to the future of independent politics in the United States.
Oliver Hall is the Founder, Executive Director, and General Counsel of the Center for Competitive Democracy, which was founded in 2005 to strengthen American democracy by increasing electoral competition. Oliver and CCD have won critical cases for ballot access and competitive democracy across the country, including a major victory last week in Maine, overturning oppressive enrollment requirements that made it practically impossible for non-wealthy citizens to establish new political parties.
Oliver is also the author of “Death by a Thousand Signatures: The Rise of Restrictive Ballot Access Laws and the Decline of Electoral Competition in the United States”, a landmark paper shining a light on the establishment’s relentless assault on independent politics.
Harry Kresky has years of experience fighting for the rights of independent voters and alternative parties. He has represented numerous insurgent and independent candidates seeking equal access to the ballot, and successfully defended Ralph Nader during the 2004 presidential race against efforts to remove him from the ballot in West Virginia and New Mexico.
Harry is also a co-author of a 2019 law review article: “Let All Voters Vote: Independents and the Expansion of Voting Rights in the United States.”
This is a dream team for defending our 2016 campaign – and future campaigns outside the two-party establishment – from an unfair system that creates virtually insurmountable obstacles to political participation by low budget grassroots campaigns like ours.
The right to vote requires not only an end to voter suppression. It also requires real choices for voters to choose among – not just the same corporate duopoly that’s overseen the crises of climate collapse, crushing inequality and endless war that continue to deepen.
With your help, we will continue fighting for the right to vote in all of its dimensions – including the right to political choices that are essential to democracy and our future that depends on it.
All my best,
Jill
