Libertarian Presidential Caucus Results

Columbus, Ohio – Libertarians in Ohio have voted on their preference for the party’s 2020 Presidential nominee. The online caucus close on Saturday and results were posted on votefreeohio.com. Jacob Hornberger won with 51% of the vote in the 8th round of Instant Runoff Voting, 

The caucus used a style of voting called Ranked Choice Voting, where voters ranked the candidates in order of preference. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. First-preference votes cast for the failed candidate are eliminated, lifting the second-preference choices indicated on those ballots.

LPO Political Director Patrick Glasgow explains, “This system of voting allows voters to cast a vote for their top choice without having to worry about spoiler candidates by ranking a second choice behind them.” The most recent example of this being where KY Governor Candidate Johns Hicks took 2% of the vote and the margin between the two old party candidates was 0.4%. Glasgow went on to say, “The other key benefit to this system, is a candidate has to get 50% of the vote to be elected, in most elections a majority of the electorate, voted against the winner.”

While the caucus results are non-binding, the process is important, given the LPO’s stakes in the 2020 Presidential election.  Thanks to the draconian ballot access law passed in 2013 by a Republican legislative majority and signed by Republican Gov. John Kasich, the Libertarian candidate for President must gain 3% of the vote in order to stay on the ballot.  “We need to get our activists excited about our candidates and the process,” Glasgow explained. “This caucus, we hope, will be the first step in doing this.”