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Current Situation

2016 was a pivotal year for the Libertarian Party.

In 2016, over 4 million voters voted for Libertarian Presidential Nominee, Gov. Gary Johnson. This was 3 times the previous record of votes cast for our presidential nominee.

In 2016, many voters began to question the traditional two-party duopoly and many voted Libertarian for the first time. Our name awareness grew significantly as media outlets gave us long overdue coverage.

After the 2016 election, the Libertarian Party has better name recognition than ever before. Additionally, there is a large swath of voters who currently feel disenfranchised with the other parties.

Fundraising For Critical Projects

The 2016 election results guarantee ballot access for the Libertarian Party in 37 states. This puts us well ahead of previous years as we aim for 50 state (plus DC) ballot access again for 2018. The Libertarian Party plans for success for our candidates at every level. We currently have 154 Libertarians holding elected office and we aim to increase that significantly. There are many pieces that go into setting the stage for success in upcoming election cycles. Here are the key focuses of the national party at this time.

Achieve 50 State Ballot Access

Ballot access is the most critical function of our national party. We are currently at 39 states plus DC. We are pursuing ballot access in the remaining 11 states.

Garner More Media Attention

Communicating with voters via TV, radio, and newspapers is a key factor for our success in 2018. We very recently hired a Press Secretary to increase press attention for the Libertarian Party, our ideas, and candidates nationwide.

Improve IT Infrastructure

We've already upgraded our website and database substantially this year, but this work continues. We are improving the integration of our systems and increasing our data and marketing capabilities.

Run 2,000 Candidates

We seek to have 2,000 Libertarian candidates on ballots in 2018. We will soon hire a Candidate Support Specialist to recruit and train candidates across America.

Bolster Affiliates

Growing the party nationwide includes building our state parties and leveraging economies of scale with templates, marketing materials, training and IT software.

How You Can Help Accelerate Our Growth

We currently have so many opportunities but not enough manpower to take advantage of many of them.

We have a small, hardworking team of staff and consultants working on our behalf. Each of them does many diverse tasks beyond what would typically be the scope of their job.

If we want to grow rapidly, and take advantage of the incredible opportunities in front of us and that will come with the next rounds of elections, we need to grow our team with highly qualified and dedicated people.

This will greatly expand our capabilities. Each of these positions would greatly increase our output and are estimated to have the highest return-on-investment as we pursue our goal of building a robust party that competes aggressively with the Rs and Ds.

Building Our Team

The highest priorities for expanding our team and the expected costs for each position are:

Data Manager - $60,000

We need someone working full-time maintaining and refining our database. Creative and highly effective use of data is key to electoral progress. We need a team member focused on making the best use of this absolutely critical tool.

Membership Coordinator - $50,000

The Libertarian Party is the fastest growing party in America. As our membership grows, so does the workload associated with getting those members more involved with the party.

Communications Manager - $60,000

Effective communication is important in any industry but especially in politics. Internal and external communications are very important to growing our party. These tasks are currently divided among other staff.

Hiring a communications manager would help increase the efficiency of our whole team significantly, especially during extra fast-paced times such as election season.

Campus and Youth Outreach Coordinator - $40,000

Youth are more Libertarian-leaning than any other demographic in America. We need to reach out to this demographic and help them become involved with the party as volunteers and voters. Organizing youth will pay dividends to the party now and for decades to come.