November 1995
Convention offers referendum on the LP National Platform
Under new convention rules adopted at the 1993 Salt Lake City convention, all delegates to the 1996 national convention in Washington, DC, will play an active role in the evaluation and review of the entire Libertarian Party national platform.
At the start of the convention -- on Thursday morning, July 4 -- each delegate
will vote on every plank of the national platform using an electronically
tabulated ballot. The platform committee will have met for several days prior to
the convention to consider changes in the platform. All platform planks that
fail to meet the approval of a majority of registered delegates will be reviewed
and amended by the convention as a whole prior to the close of the convention
business sessions. All delegates will vote again on platform planks that failed
to win approval and have not been amended. This will provide an opportunity for
all LP convention delegates to have far greater input than ever before into the
platform process.
Another change in convention procedure will require all presidential candidates to submit their own personal "Presidential Campaign Platform" to the convention at the start of the proceedings. This document will outline the focus of their campaign if they are nominated by the delegates. After the nomination of our ticket, the delegates will be able to review and approve all planks in this platform.
The Washington, DC, convention will see a major increase in the role of party activists from all affiliate states in the LP platform process and in the campaign policies of our candidates. It is important that you be there!
