SALT LAKE CITY – In the wake of the 2006 midterm election, the Libertarian Organizing Committee is releasing the following analysis of data from the State of Utah Elections Office related to the historical performance of Libertarian candidates.

In the 2006 midterm election, Utah voters cast 41,622 votes among 14 Libertarian candidates. Among all 14 Libertarian candidates, the average percentage of votes received was 5.25 percent. And more than half of all 14 Libertarian candidates received more than 2.99 percent of the vote.

The Libertarian candidate in Utah receiving the highest percentage of the vote was Iron County Sheriff candidate John Martineau, with 15.35 percent of the vote. Martineau was less than 200 votes and two percentage points behind the Democratic candidate.

“Kudos to John for running a strong campaign and congratulations on a remarkable election result for a non-incumbent party candidate in a three-way race,” said Libertarian Organizing Committee chairman Rob Latham.

Latham received the highest number of votes among Libertarian candidates in Utah in the race for Salt Lake County District Attorney. The 7,694 votes he received exceeded the margin of victory and were enough to deny a majority to the winner.

Libertarians also noted the following trends since 1986:

• Significant decrease in the number of federal and state candidates on the State of Utah’s general election ballot. Since 1986, the number of Libertarian candidates appearing on midterm ballots for federal and state legislative elections has decreased 81 percent. In 1986, the general election ballot featured 42 Libertarians in races for U.S. Senator to Utah House of Representatives. In 2006, the State of Utah’s general election ballot featured only eight Libertarian candidates.

  Although Latham attributes part of the decrease to fewer Libertarians filing declarations of candidacy, another reason is a law enacted after 1986 authorizing removal from the ballot those candidates who fail to file financial disclosure statements. The State Elections Office disqualified four Libertarian candidates, who likely would have reported modest campaign contributions and expenditures, from the 2006 general election ballot for failing to file financial disclosure statements.

  “The fact that incumbents have imposed the electoral equivalent of the ‘death penalty’ upon challengers who engage in little or no campaign activity shows that these state legislators have no sense of humor or proportion when it comes to perceived threats to their power, however miniscule,” says Latham.

  Federal candidates are not required to file financial disclosure statements until more than $5,000 is either raised or spent.

• Significant increase in votes per federal and state candidate. On the flipside, since 1986 the average and median number of votes each Libertarian candidate for federal and state office received during a midterm election has increased 344 percent and 693 percent, respectively, greatly outpacing Utah’s population growth.

  For example, in 1986 Libertarian candidates for state and federal office received an average of 366 votes. In 2006, Libertarian candidates for state and federal office received an average of 1201 votes.

  “It’s noteworthy,” says Latham, “that in the 2006 midterm election all eight Libertarian candidates for federal and state office received only 2,388 fewer total votes than all 42 Libertarian candidates for federal and state office received in the 1986 midterm election.

• No significant change in percentage of the vote over 20 years. In 2006, Libertarian candidates ran slightly ahead of their 1986 counterparts, but not significantly. The average percentage of the vote received by Libertarian candidates in 1986 was 3.74 percent; in 2006 it was 4.21 percent. Both figures are below the historical average of intervening midterm elections.

  Similarly, the median percentage of the vote received by Libertarian candidates in 1986 was 2.05 percent; in 2006 it was 2.12 percent. These figures are also below the party’s historical average in intervening midterm elections.

  Since 1986, Libertarian candidates for federal and state office in Utah have received an average of 5.46 percent of the midterm election vote, and more than half of those candidates have received 3.23 percent of the vote or higher.

Despite these numbers, no Libertarian has ever been elected to a single seat of the Utah House of Representatives – which represents 1.3 percent of the population – or a single seat of the Utah Senate – which represents 3.4 percent of the population.

Surveys show that between nine and 18 percent of Americans are libertarians.

“The under-representation of Libertarians and others shows that the two-party system continues to cheat Utahns out of fair representation,” says Latham.

“Although Libertarians reject aggression and advocate peaceful change," notes Latham, "many people are increasingly frustrated by the barriers that members of the two incumbent political parties have erected to prevent meaningful electoral competition. In this era of pre-emptive self-defense, it would be lamentable if more of those who believe that they cannot be heard effectively through ballots begin to communicate to elected officials through bullets.”

Earlier this year Movimiento Libertario, the equivalent of the Libertarian Party in Costa Rica, won six of 57 (10.5%) seats in that nation’s legislature because of elections which use proportional representation methods. At the behest of the U.S. government, the nations of Afghanistan and Iraq have joined most of the world’s democracies in using proportional representation electoral methods to elect representatives to their legislatures.

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Because no Libertarian candidate in Utah received enough votes in the 2006 midterm election that exceeded two percent of all votes cast in all three congressional races, the Libertarian Organizing Committee has also launched a petition drive to re-establish the Libertarian Party of Utah’s ballot status for elections conducted by the State of Utah.

“I’m excited about yet another opportunity to reacquaint Utah voters with the liberty movement and re-establish the Libertarian Party of Utah,” says Rob Latham, chairman of the Libertarian Organizing Committee. Latham is calling on all Utahns who support a Libertarian choice in the ballot for help in accomplishing both of these goals.

Under its bylaws, the Libertarian Party of Utah becomes the Libertarian Organizing Committee if it loses ballot status following an election. According to Ballot Access News, the last time the LPUtah lost ballot status was after the 1994 midterm election.

“In 2004, the LPUtah was one of only two non-incumbent political parties in Utah to retain ballot access following the election,” says Latham. “Now it’s our turn to petition to re-establish Utah’s only consistent political voice for smaller government, fewer taxes, and more freedom.”

The committee’s organizing petition can be downloaded from www.LPUtah.org.

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2006 General Election Results*

*All results but those from Iron and Washington counties are official.

Total votes of federal, state, and county candidates: 41,622
Average percentage of federal, state, and county candidates: 5.25%
Median percentage of federal, state, and county candidates: 2.99%