Nashville, TN - America's new libertarian alternative wrapped up its first-ever ballot access petition drive today as Boston Tea Party representatives turned in petition signatures and other paperwork to state election officials.
Once the signatures are certified by Tennessee's Secretary of State, presidential candidate Charles Jay and vice-presidential candidate Thomas L. Knapp will be set to appear on Tennessee ballots in November. The petitioners turned in more than 400 signatures just before today's deadline. Tennessee law requires 275 valid signatures.
"Our ambition is to give freedom-lovers in the Volunteer State a libertarian alternative to John McCain and Barack Obama," said Jay, 47, of Hollywood Florida. "Our petitioners, the voters who stepped forward to put us on the ballot, and the electors who agreed to cast their Electoral College votes for us should we carry the state made that possible today, and they have my heartfelt thanks."
Jay and Knapp were nominated in June by the party's national membership, which conducts its operations entirely online. The party was founded in 2006 and campaigns on a single-sentence platform: "The Boston Tea Party supports reducing the size, scope and power of government at all levels and on all issues, and opposes increasing the size, scope and power of government at any level, for any purpose." In addition to Tennessee, the party's presidential slate will appear on the ballot in Colorado, Florida and Louisiana. A volunteer petition drive is ongoing in Alabama and the party may seek ballot access in other states as well.
Boston Tea Party web site:
http://www.bostontea.us
