The “Let Her Speak” Jacksonville Caravan

Organized by the Liberetarian National Committee and hosted in Jacksonville, FL by Kevin Ethridge

Saturday, August 8, 2020 at 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM at 4906 Town Center Parkway.

The main goal of this coordinated effort was to get Jo Jorgensen on the debate stage. Attendees will be decorating their cars, talking to the press, blasting music and passing out flyers. We came together to be noticed and demand fair representation of Jo Jorgensen and third parties in the debates.

At exactly 12:30 pm EST/ 9:30 am PST all the attendees throughout the nation went LIVE on social media to tell their friends and family about what we are doing and why. All the videos and photos were compiled for a short film after the event. Watch our promotional video and our interactive map showing all the convoys happening around the country.

Kevin Ethridge said on his Facebbok page “I’m going to order some Jorgensen merchandise to give away” We can use that to show from our cars as we drive on the caravan.

Presidential Debates Should Include All Candidates that a Majority Wants

In 2016 3 polls showed that a majority of Americans wanted 2 third party candidates in the presidential debates: Morning Consult 52%, Gallup 57%. USA TODAY/Suffolk University 76%.

Yet, one inclusion criteria used by the Presidential Debate Commission is having at least a 15% average voting support in polls from five organizations, during their most recent polls. They must also be Constitutionally eligible and appear in enough state ballots to have a mathematical chance to win. The candidates from the Libertarian and Green parties met these last two criteria, but not the 15% support.

But the criteria that matters is whether a majority of voters want a candidate on the debate, not what percent would vote for them. The purpose of the debate is to help voters decide who to vote for, not to give more exposure to the top two they currently prefer. And the additional candidates will bring up a wider range of issues for the public to consider.

The Presidential Election Commission, created by the Democrat and Republican party chairs, uses a biased criteria to exclude the third party candidates. Particularly since polls typically do not include third party candidates during the period (after Labor Day) when the candidates for the debates are selected. And it is suspiciously inconsistent that Democrats and Republicans had over ten candidates in their primary debates but they limit the general election debate to only the two from their parties.

Therefore, we petition the Presidential Debate Commission that the candidate preference criteria for selection to the Presidential Debates be changed:

From

Candidates must have a level of support of at least 15% of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations’ most recently publicly-reported results at the time of the determination.

To:

Candidates must have over 50% of the national electorate favoring their appearance in the debates, as determined by up to five selected national public opinion polling organizations (identified in the polls by candidate name, party, or as meeting the other two criteria), using the average of those organizations’ most recently publicly-reported results of the 180 days previous to the time of the determination.

Take Action

On Change.org

Click on the link below to sign your support to this petition:

Presidential Debates Should Include All Candidates that a Majority Wants

With Polling Organizations

Write an email to one or more of these polling organizations asking them to:

1. Include in their presidential election opinion polls all parties or candidates that (a) constitutionally qualify and (b) appear in enough state ballots to have a mathematical chance to win.
2. Ask a poll question about whether or not these candidates should be included in the Presidential Debates.

ABC News/The Washington opinion polling https://helpcenter.washingtonpost.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?itid=sf_opinions-letters-to-the-editor

CBS News/The New York Times, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research mshukait@umich.edu

Gallup https://www.gallup.com/270188/contact-us-general.aspx

Fox News opinion polling https://help.foxnews.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

Los Angeles Times Poll cpf@usc.edu

Marist Institue Poll http://maristpoll.marist.edu/contact/#sthash.pCRwuOj6.dpbs

With Sponsors of The Commission on Presidential Debates

The Commission on Presidential Debates does not publish an email address or have a Contact Us page on its website. But most of its sponsors do.

Write an email to these sponsors of the Commission on Presidential Debate.

Ask that funding to the Presidential Debated Commission be removed unless they change their criteria for inclusion

From

Candidates must have a level of support of at least 15% of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations’ most recently publicly-reported results at the time of the determination.

To:

Candidates must have over 50% of the national electorate favoring their appearance in the debates, as determined by up to five selected national public opinion polling organizations (identified in the polls by candidate name, party, or as meeting the other two criteria), using the average of those organizations’ most recently publicly-reported results of the 180 days previous to the time of the determination.

ANHEUSER-BUSCH https://contactus.anheuser-busch.com/contactus/contactusnew/anheuserbusch/contact_us.html

The Howard G. Buffett Foundation https://www.thehowardgbuffettfoundation.org/contact/

Judy and Peter Blum Kovler Foundation https://support.candid.org/case.html?type=fdo&mode=popup

The National Governors Association https://www.nga.org/ (at bottom of page)