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Sick of the government meddling in every last detail of your life? Wish that D.C. took a more isolationist stance toward the rest of the country? Do restaurant health inspections feel like an arbitrary burden?
Well, now you can let the D.C. Board of Elections know, because the newest revision to the District’s voter registration form includes the Libertarian Party as one of the printed choices. Though they have never held elected office in the District, the Libertarians finally achieved major-party status last year when Bruce Majors, a challenger to Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, carried enough votes to secure formal recognition for their party organization.
Majors needed 7,500 votes to make the Libertarians a major party. Last November 6, he got that and plenty more, eventually racking up more than twice the threshold. While Norton, who was never in danger of losing, collected about 15 times as many votes, Majors still outpolled his party’s presidential candidate, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, by a 10-to-one margin.
Now a major party, the Libertarians will be listed on voter registration forms, be permitted to hold party primaries, and are required to submit their bylaws to the Board of Elections.
