Greeting Fellow Patriots.
I wanted to update you as best I can on the latest election returns. The vote totals are still not all in, especially from states with write-in votes but nonetheless, it is very clear by now that 2016 was an exceptionally good year for the Constitution Party, in spite of the numerous challenges that we faced. At this point I am quite confident (when the final vote tally is in), that we will reach an all time high in the number of votes cast for our presidential candidate. This will be a remarkable achievement for the party. Before elaborating on the presidential election results, I first want to share with you that two of our party members won the office for which they were seeking.
Bruce Johnson, our state chairman in Minnesota, was elected as the Dakota County Soil & Water District 4 Supervisor. He ran unopposed, something more of our people should seek to do. Our second success at the ballot box was the election of Adam Toone to the Morgan County local school board in Utah. Adam is the county chairman of the Constitution Party in Morgan County. The race was close, but Adam came out on top with 52.84 percent of the vote.
Now to the presidential race. At this link you will find a spreadsheet which compares the votes received by our 2012 presidential candidate Virgil Goode to the votes received this year by Darrell Castle. I would encourage you to take some time to review the results. Wherever our candidate was on the ballot in both election years, Darrell Castle out-polled Goode in every state. The increase in the number of votes in some states is very impressive. Many write-in states have not yet reported their votes, but in those states that have submitted at least some votes, the increase for the Castle/Bradley ticket is exceptionally encouraging. In particular, compare the results in the three states of Indiana, Texas and Vermont. Indiana did a phenomenal job of increasing their vote totals by over five times, and a number of counties have yet to report their results. The states with the highest number of votes received are Pennsylvania, Washington, Florida and Michigan. Percentage-wise the top states are Alaska, Hawaii, South Dakota and Wyoming.
What is especially revealing is the breakout by region. The vote increase in the Western states in 2016 is over 123% of the vote received in 2012. The Southern states showed the next highest percentage vote increase with nearly a 56% increase. Overall, the total vote increase is 59.31%. Even in the write -in states (which are not yet complete), the vote tally over 2012 is 74.20%. From the vote totals thus far it is clear that it was a smart move to have a candidate from the South and one from the West.
Our success is due to the diligent and dedicated hard work of so many people. Your efforts on Facebook, Twitter and other Internet media played a huge part in our success on election night. Thousands of new people have joined the party. In fact, Constitution Party voter registration increased from 77,916 in February of this year to over 92,930 in October, the last month for which we have figures. We maintained ballot access in five western states – CO, NV, ID, WY, and UT; four mid-western states – MI, MO, SD, and WI; and three southern states – FL, MS, and SC.
Our immediate goal is to begin securing signatures in those states where we fell short of the needed number of votes to retain ballot access. We are able to start gathering signatures now in many states and we cannot afford to delay moving forward immediately. Alaska, Hawaii and Indiana are already organizing to do just that. Getting on the ballot now in an off year election is by far less expensive than waiting until 2018. Doing so entitles us to run candidates in 2018 that will enable us to maintain ballot access through 2020. Also getting ballot petition signatures is much less expensive now when demand is lower in the off year elections and by acting now we can take advantage of that situation.
This is where your help is needed urgently. I ask that you search deeply inwardly and donate beginning now what you are able to and then continue to donate each month there after that you can. If you are only in a position to donate $5.00 a month, we will gratefully accept that and if you are able to donate a larger amount – $10.00, $15.00, $25.00, $50.00, $100.00 or more that will likewise be deeply appreciated. The key is that you donate now so that we can begin working immediately. Much of our petitioning will be done on a volunteer basis, but there still will be a need to pay professional petitioners. To donate simply go to this link on our website. You can select Ballot Access, State Assessment, or General, when you are asked “How Should We Attribute Your Donation”. Any of those choices will allow us to use the funds for ballot access. The important thing is that you donate. Know that those funds will be used prudently.
Again my sincere thanks to each of you for your hard work and dedication in making 2016 our most successful year ever.
Your national chairman,
Frank Fluckiger