I would like to see our legislature take a comprehensive look at overhauling Indiana's election laws. Over many years, the Republican and Democrat parties alike have added layer to layer of election law making deciphering this code impossible for election officials, candidates and voters.
At every turn, our legislature continues to create confusing deadlines. Forms are not always current. And there is a real disconnect between information provided the public from a local level to the state.
I believe it is time for Indiana to streamline our elections. I call for:
Lowering the threshold for ballot access to ensure all viewpoints can be part of the public debate. Indiana's existing ballot access laws are restrictive and strip voters of choices.
Maintaining logical district boundaries at every level. The practice of gerrymandering districts from a town level through our U.S. Congressional districts is merely pandering to the entrenched parties' politics and not serving the voters.
Affording voters electoral recall as an option. While not intended to undo a fair election, voters should have the ability to petition for the removal of an elected official. A high threshold for petition signatures and percentage required for removal would keep our elected officials in check.
Providing voters fair and multi-partisan input on interpretation of election law, expanding the Indiana Election Commission to include any political party that has successfully maintained ballot access for one complete election cycle. Allowing the two entrenched parties to rule on each other's candidates lends itself to increased partisan politics.
Ensuring that our votes are counted and counted properly. We must move away from the paperless electronic voting systems across the state and insist on a paper trail that can be physically audited.
The events surrounding GOP Democrat candidate for Secretary of State speak to the complicated system Indiana legislators have crafted more than to the candidate himself. While we maintain that current election laws must be followed, we believe more strongly that our legislature has been negligent in properly crafting an environment that lends itself to open and transparent elections. We trust that state and local officials will appropriately interpret how Mr. White's Mr. Osili's case should be handled. We are less optimistic that our legislature will do the hard work of fixing a system that is overly restrictive, harshly punitive and exhaustingly burdensome.
About Mike Wherry Wherry is an attorney, mechanical engineer and businessman residing in Greenfield, Indiana. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Hawai'i aboard the USS Indianapolis.
I would like to see our legislature take a comprehensive look at overhauling Indiana's election laws. Over many years, the Republican and Democrat parties alike have added layer to layer of election law making deciphering this code impossible for election officials, candidates and voters.
At every turn, our legislature continues to create confusing deadlines. Forms are not always current. And there is a real disconnect between information provided the public from a local level to the state.
I believe it is time for Indiana to streamline our elections. I call for:
Lowering the threshold for ballot access to ensure all viewpoints can be part of the public debate. Indiana's existing ballot access laws are restrictive and strip voters of choices.
Maintaining logical district boundaries at every level. The practice of gerrymandering districts from a town level through our U.S. Congressional districts is merely pandering to the entrenched parties' politics and not serving the voters.
Affording voters electoral recall as an option. While not intended to undo a fair election, voters should have the ability to petition for the removal of an elected official. A high threshold for petition signatures and percentage required for removal would keep our elected officials in check.
Providing voters fair and multi-partisan input on interpretation of election law, expanding the Indiana Election Commission to include any political party that has successfully maintained ballot access for one complete election cycle. Allowing the two entrenched parties to rule on each other's candidates lends itself to increased partisan politics.
Ensuring that our votes are counted and counted properly. We must move away from the paperless electronic voting systems across the state and insist on a paper trail that can be physically audited.
The events surrounding GOP candidate for Secretary of State speak to the complicated system Indiana legislators have crafted more than to the candidate himself. While we maintain that current election laws must be followed, we believe more strongly that our legislature has been negligent in properly crafting an environment that lends itself to open and transparent elections. We trust that state and local officials will appropriately interpret how Mr. White's case should be handled. We are less optimistic that our legislature will do the hard work of fixing a system that is overly restrictive, harshly punitive and exhaustingly burdensome.
About Mike Wherry Wherry is an attorney, mechanical engineer and businessman residing in Greenfield, Indiana. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Hawai'i aboard the USS Indianapolis.
Mike Wherry has heard the stories of volunteers collecting petition signatures over the years. He's met many of the state's past candidates for Secretary of State. But even while acknowledging the importance of the election he's facing in November, he never strays too far from his core belief.
"This year's race for Secretary of State is more about winning elections than it is about survival," Wherry notes. "Our party's candidates are competing to win at several levels. Sure, I realize my race, by definition, will keep us on the ballot for four more years, but survival has taken a distant second place to seeing where we can win."
"I've been traveling the state constantly since our spring nominating convention. It seems in every direction I travel, I hear that a Libertarian Party candidate is competing to win," Wherry continues. "Look at Rush County, for example. Four short years ago we had no county affiliate; we barely had a half dozen interested names. Today, Joyce Morrell and Victoria Foley are out campaigning door-to-door on weekends and the party is growing. We're competing. We can win."
This is seen throughout the state as Wherry travels, with bottom-to-top candidates appearing on the ballots in many of Indiana's counties for the first time.
"We're incredibly excited in Lake County. We have candidates running for township office, county office, statehouse, statewide and federal offices," points out Lake County Chairman Jeff Duensing. "Some of it was initially driven by trying to support Mike's race for Secretary of State, but anymore we're looking to compete to win. The political climate is ripe for us to make serious in-roads where we'd been shut out historically."
Wherry recently echoed that sentiment at a Fort Wayne forum hosted by the local 9/12 group. Speaking with attendees after the event, he reminded them that this election is very much about winning and maintaining choice on the ballot -- and not just a libertarian option.
"The days of the 'wasted vote' argument are passing quickly - thankfully," Wherry explains. "Most visibly, the tea party movement is showing that every vote truly counts and activism can pay off. But, it's not limited to a single group's efforts. Technology is truly allowing new voices to be heard, viewpoints from upstart conservative and progressive groups alike."
"It's really refreshing to see the old parties scrambling and losing ground as they try to argue that a vote belongs to their party," he reflects. "It's actually pretty sobering for me. When I first sought the nomination for Secretary of State, to me it was about winning the 2% we needed to keep the party on the ballot. I realize now it's much more than that. My success is directly tied to the future success of not only the Libertarian Party, but the Green Party, Constitution Party, Reform, Natural Law, Progressive parties."
"We are the opposition to the status quo this year. I have to not only succeed for the LP, but I have to break through our threshold in a way that gives us leverage to speak on behalf of all groups trying to have their message heard," he concedes. "It's both exciting and humbling."
"If we're going to continue to challenge for wins at local and state level elections, we have to allow more opinions to be heard," Wherry explains. "Indiana has some of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the country. The more success we have in Hagerstown, La Porte, Clarksville and Indianapolis, the more success we will have in moving Indiana away from such a restrictive system. That allows more diverse viewpoints to be heard, which has to help energize our elections. In my opinion, energized and diverse debate make for stronger and healthier communities."
In Indiana, to appear on the ballot, a candidate must obtain valid signatures from at least 2% of the voters in the past Secretary of State's race for that jurisdiction. In a statewide race, that amounts to over 35,000 valid signatures. To maintain ballot access for a party, that party's candidate must secure more than 2% of the vote in the SOS race.
"I don't take anything for granted," Wherry said. "I fully understand the importance of the race I'm running. We've come a long way in just the last four years, so I can imagine where we'll be over the next four. First, though, I have to do my job to support our candidates and that includes running to win my race. Is it an uphill challenge? Sure. But seeing what I see from across the state, I know we're up for it. I know I'm up for it."
Wherry is an attorney, mechanical engineer and businessman residing in Greenfield, Indiana. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Hawaii aboard the USS Indianapolis.
Our campaign is closing in on the final weeks of the election season. With our success in November, Indiana will be assured twenty continuous years of choice at the ballot. That choice is what allows us to run candidates at every level and win!
This year, we have more active campaigns than we've ever had. Our list of federal candidates is truly impressive and more importantly competing to win this fall! Led by U.S. Senate candidate Rebecca Sink-Burris, we have candidates running in EIGHT OF INDIANA'S NINE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS! (Check out the LPIN list of candidates at the LPIN website.)
We're competing in local races. We're competing in Indiana Statehouse races. Political survival is no longer our goal. Our candidates are running to win.
This is why our race for Secretary of State is so important. We must cover Indiana's airwaves this October and make sure our message of more responsible government is heard.
A proven approach to achieving this goal is running radio ads. Starting in mid-October, we plan to blitz up to 40 of the state's radio stations with a libertarian message. We need your help to do that.
Please consider donating to the campaign. Use our new widget on the homepage! (Or, if you prefer, click our Support the Campaign button for other donation options.)
Thank you for your efforts in keeping Indiana's libertarian option on the ballot. Thank you for your efforts in electing libertarians to office!
A new documentary has been produced to show how harmful gerrymandering is to our nation. Please check out their website to find out more about this issue.
Current Secretary of State Todd Rokita has launched a website called Rethinking Redistricting to highlight gerrymandering in Indiana.
The Libertarian Party of Indiana has championed this issue for two decades, trying to bring fair and transparent elections to Indiana. We support outgoing Secretary of State Rokita's efforts on this issue.
Please share with your friends: http://www.rethinkingredistricting.com/
Today, the Indiana Supreme Court issued its opinion in League v. Rokita regarding the Voter ID law in Indiana. Libertarian Party nominee for Secretary of State Mike Wherry supports this decision by the Court and applauds this protection against voter fraud.
Wherry explains, "The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a common sense law today. We have to show identification for any number of normal day-to-day tasks to prove who we are. The need to show ID in order to vote should not have to be any different. It is important for us to have integrity in our elections without disenfranchising voters. And this law provides opportunities for all voters with ample provisions for those who may not currently have proper ID."
Mike Wherry, Libertarian Party candidate for Secretary of State, extends his congratulations to Charlie White and Vop Osili on their respective nominations for Secretary of State.
“I would like to congratulate Charlie White and Vop Osili and welcome them to the race. I hope that we have a spirited debate regarding the issues and wish them the best of luck,” said Wherry. “The Secretary of State is an important office in Indiana and critical for ensuring that Hoosiers have the right to exercise their choice at the ballot box. This will be a great three-way race in November.”
