Dear Fellow Constitution Supporters: Ever since becoming chairman of the Constitution Party, I have stress
ed the need to build the party at the grass roots level. It is my firm conviction that the only way to build a viable alternative to the two major parties is to simply build the party from the local level up. This means that first of all our candidates need to be willing to run for office for local boards, for town council and for town mayors. This approach has been tested and is succeeding. In one community we now have two of five council members who are members of the party and if all goes well, our goal is to have four of the five after the election this November. We also have at least one other member on a local city council. That is where experience is gained and where our influence for good can be most readily felt. Our goal in 2016 is to run candidates for local county office as well as for the state house and state senate seats that are up for election. The key to being able to run such candidates for office is to be ballot qualified, Furthermore, to retain ballot qualification for subsequent elections, state law most generally requires that the party run a state wide candidate and that the candidate receive a given percentage of the vote. Failure to do so, causes the party to lose ballot access and the process of gathering the required number of signatures to regain ballot access has to start all over again. Therefore, the key purpose for running statewide candidate for office is to retain ballot access rather than to win the election outright. It was with this goal in mind that in 2014 we worked hard to get on the ballot in three states, Alaska, West Virginia and Wisconsin. We then ran state wide candidates for non high profile office such as State Treasurer, State Auditor, Attorney General etc with the hope of securing a high enough vote percentage to retain ballot access. We succeeded in Wisconsin with two of our candidates meeting the required vote percentage. In Alaska we fell short by just 1,000 votes. In that state law required that we run a candidate for governor and needed to garner 3% of the vote, so we came remarkably close to maintaining ballot access. . We also fell shy of our goal in West Virginia. However, since then Alaska has re-qualified for ballot access and West Virgina should complete their drive for ballot access by the end of November. Again, this year where permitted by law, we have been working for ballot access for the 2016 election. It is much cheaper to do so this year than to wait until the presidential election year (2016). By doing this we can then focus next year on getting ballot access in states where by law we can not begin the signature process until 2016. Thus far we have gained ballot access in Alaska, and Arkansas. We are currently working to gain ballot access in West Virginia, South Dakota, Hawaii, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Dakota, and Alabama. It is our sincere hope to qualify in at least five of those state prior to the year end. Currently the party is not on the ballot in any of the Eastern States, We are on in Four Southern States, Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Arkansas. We are on the ballot in three Midwestern States, Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin. In the West we are on the ballot in eight of the 13 states. Those states are Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. The West is where the strength of the party is. There is a price tag for getting on the ballot in each state and this is the purpose of my letter. In some states such as Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Nevada, and more recently Wyoming, the party members
were able to ballot qual
ify without outside help. However this is the exception rather than the norm because we have more party members in those states. In Arkansas, and Alaska we had some volunteers, but for the most part we had to hire petition gathers to secure the number of needed signatures for
ballot qualification. We are currently doing the same in South Dakota and Louisiana. The normal cost per
signature during the presidential election year is $2.50 to $3.00 per signature. By getting signatures this
year we averaged $2.00 in Arkansas and just under $2.00 per signature in Alaska. In South Dakota we have been averaging $1.39. We need 6,936 signatures in that state which means we need to gather
10,500 to offset any signatures that will be deemed as invalid. In Hawaii we need 707; in West Virginia
6,705; In North Dakota 7,000; and in Louisiana we need 1,000 voters to register as Constitution Party. Each state has different requirements, but I think you now have a feel for the cost involved.
It is with this in mind that I am asking each of you to give serious thought to donating whatever amount you can to help us raise enough funds to qualify at least five more states for ballot access before the end of the year. Currently we are qualified in 15 states and five more will bring us to 20. If you can only donate $5.00 that would be appreciated and if you can donate more then please do so. Any donations
above of $50.00 or more need to list your occupation and your employer, so be sure to make that notation along with your donation. More importantly if you can make a monthly donation for the next nine months or so that would be a tremendous help to us. Kindly make your checks payable to the
Constitution Party and then mail them to The Constitution Party P O Box 1782 Lancaster, PA 17608. Kindly do so at your earliest convenience. It is critical that we complete the signature
gathering especially in South and North Dakota prior to the cold weather setting in. We currently are as
the 3,465 signature mark in South Dakota and just getting a good start in North Dakota.
My sincere thanks to each of you for your support,
For God, Family and Country,
Frank Fluckiger
National Chairman
Constitution Party
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