On Sunday, the Libertarian Party of Alabama nominee for Lieutenant Governor Ruth Page Nelson addressed a diverse group of voters at an election forum event at Huntsville’s Studio 53.
“I am Ruth Page Nelson the Libertarian candidate for Lieutenant Governor,” Nelson said. “I am your choice for change.”
Nelson is challenging Republican incumbent Will Ainsworth in the general election.
“Now you have a choice to make a difference,” Nelson told the crowd that had just seen Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Dr. James “Jimmy” Blake debate write-in candidate for governor Dean Odle.
“We have a state that builds itself on mass incarceration. We will change that,” Nelson said.
Nelson grew up in Florida but is a resident of the Dothan area. She is a community activist and an electrician. She is certified by the U.S. Department of Energy to teach solar system installation installers. She has a degree in microbiology.
“The integrity of the vote has been a major issue in this election,” Nelson said. “The integrity of the vote determines whether you vote or not.”
Nelson is for replacing the state’s ESS vote counting machines with a hand counted paper ballots.
“We need to go to the paper ballot,” Nelson said.
Nelson previously ran as a Republican for U.S. Senate.
“Your vote determines the future of your children and grandchildren,” Nelson continued.
Nelson said that the office of Lieutenant Governor is important because, “The Lt Governor is the President of the Senate.”
This is the first time that the Alabama Libertarians have had ballot access since 2002. Libertarians need for at least one of their statewide candidates to get at least twenty percent of the vote in order to keep ballot access without going through the ballot access petition process – a process that cost over $240,000 during this election cycle. No Libertarian candidate, including Nelson and Blake, knew for sure that they would be on the ballot until May 24, thus the Libertarian nominees have been late getting ramped up in this election cycle.
“I am trying to win enough votes to see that Ruth Page Nelson gets 20% of the vote so we can keep ballot access,” Blake said. “We have 65 candidates who are on the ballot. Fifty of those people are running only against a Republican or a Democrat.”
In those 50 races the Republican or Democratic nominee faces only a Libertarian. The Lieutenant Governor’s race is one of those 50 races where one of the two major parties chose not to challenge the other.
The general election will be November 8.
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