Radical Libertarians Now Have a (Write-In) Choice for President

While the rest of the world scoffs at Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson’s inability to deliver foreign policy trivia on command, a radical wing within the Party itself is more bothered by his perceived departures from libertarian orthodoxy.

A leading member of that wing, Darryl Perry of New Hampshire, represented that viewpoint in the race for the Party’s nomination that Johnson won (on the second ballot).

Perry announced today he is an official write-in candidate for president in various states whose laws allow for it in a meaningful way, to give truer Libertarians who still want to vote a better choice.

From his press release, which starts by saying that though he knew all along the official Johnson/Weld was not something he could support, he initially felt too drained to keep fighting after the convention.

But now:

Due to the numerous instances of the Libertarian Party Presidential ticket running in opposition to the LP Platform, including supporting limitations of the 2nd Amendment rights of people on secret lists, new forms of taxation, and statements against freedom of association, Perry decided to file declarations of intent to be a write-in candidate in a handful of states where a slate of electors is not required. The laws in another eight states claim all write-in votes are valid.

Meaning that on November 8, 2016, voters in 17 states (AL, AK, DE, IA, ID, KS, MT, NE, NH, NJ, OR, PA, RI, VT, WA, WV, WY) plus DC, will have the ability to cast a vote – albeit a write-in – for an actual libertarian, Darryl W. Perry. This means Perry potentially has access to 114 Electoral College votes.

Perry says he will do no fundraising or spending toward this goal.

“I do not make this decision lightly, however I have the ability to not let another election cycle go by without a philosophical libertarian candidate in the general election,” he says in the release.

My reporting on Perry’s presentation at the final L.P. presidential candidate debate at the Party’s Orlando national convention, right before the vote. Perry got 6.8 percent of the delegates’ votes on the first ballot, then 5.6 on the second one that pushed Johnson over the top.

Perry’s fiery speech at the Orlando L.P. convention, in which he warns the Party they’ve just made a big mistake and would be compounding it by nominating William Weld as the vice president, which they went on to do (very narrowly, on a second ballot):

The Libertarian Party has seen some other splinter movements, including science fiction writer L. Neil Smith being put on the state ballot by the Arizona L.P. as its candidate rather than national candidate Harry Browne and a cadre of movement radicals launching a “Boston Tea Party” that got its presidential candidate Charles Jay on three state ballots in 2008.