Libertarian Party of Georgia

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Libertarian Party of Georgia
Basic facts
Location:	Atlanta, Ga.
Type:	Political party
Affiliation:	Libertarian
Top official:	Ted Metz, Chair
Year founded:	1972
Website:	Official website

The Libertarian Party of Georgia is the Georgia political party affiliate of the national Libertarian Party. The group is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Note: This party was previously ballot-qualified in Georgia. As of March 8, 2022, it is no longer ballot-qualified. The content here reflects the most current information as of March 8, 2022.

Background

The Libertarian Party of Georgia was established in 1972. In 1995, Georgia Libertarians elected Bruce Van Buren and Dewayne Methaney to city council seats in Avondale Estates, Georgia, and Auburn, Georgia, respectively. Methany later became the first Libertarian mayor of Auburn in 1998. Ten years later, John Monds became the first Libertarian candidate in Georgia to receive over one million votes during his 2008 race for public service commissioner district 1. By the 2010 election cycle, the Libertarian Party of Georgia was able to qualify candidates for every statewide elected office.

As of February 2016, two Libertarians held elected offices in the Georgia. Douglas Odom served as mayor of Bluffton, Georgia, and Walter Reynolds served on the city council in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Platform

The party's 2012 platform is composed of three main issues:

• Personal freedom
  "We, the members of the Libertarian Party of Georgia, defend the rights of the individual. We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole control over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly or fraudulently interfere with the equal rights of others to live in whatever manner they choose."
• Economic freedom
  "The only role of government in the market is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes and provide a legal framework for trade. Government has no role in choosing which businesses or industries should be favored or discouraged. Free trade is essential to creating jobs in the United States."
• The limited role of government
  "We support five fundamental separations of state from personal and economic matters: separation of church and state, health and state, economy and state, education and state and science and state. These five separations are necessary to assure a rule of law that supports the personal and economic freedoms described above."

Rules and bylaws

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Note: This article is not intended to serve as a guide to running for public office. Individuals should contact their state election agencies for further information.

See also: Rules of the Georgia Libertarian Party

The state party is governed by a set of rules and bylaws. Typically, these give structure to the different levels of organization—local, county, and state committees—and establish protocol for electing committee members. The bylaws also typically give details on the party's process for nominating and sending delegates to the national party convention during presidential elections. The following is a summary of the Georgia Libertarian Party's rules. This summary focuses on the structure and governance of the party:

• The executive committee works as the party's board of directors and is the equivalent of the state committee under Georgia law.
• The party's state districts coincide with the districts of the Georgia Public Service Commission.
• The officers of the executive committee serve two-year terms.

Convention

The dates of the 2016 state convention for the Georgia Libertarian Party, when the party selects its delegates to the Libertarian National Convention, were March 4 and March 5, 2016.

Leadership

As of July 2017, the executive director of the Libertarian Party of Georgia was Nathan Wilson.

The website for the Georgia Libertarian Party listed the following individuals as the party's state leadership as of July 2017:

• Ted Metz, Chair
• Doug Craig, Vice chair
• Matt Godown, Treasurer
• Jason McGraw, Secretary
• Beth Malin, At-large
• Brett Larson, At-large
• Martin Cowen, At-large
• John Monds, At-large
• Don Smart, PSC-1
• Cazemba Monds, PSC-1
• Vacant, PSC-2
• Gary Cims, PSC-3
• Allen Emptage, PSC-3
• Ryan Graham, PSC-3
• Laurie Williams, PSC-3
• Don Webb, PSC-4
• Bruce Landers, PSC-4
• Aaron Gilmer, PSC-4
• Brent Hilburn, PSC-4
• Chris Cooper, PSC-4
• Mike Wilson, PSC-5
• John Turpish, PSC-5
• Gretchen Mangan, PSC-5

Elections

2016 elections

The Libertarian Party of Georgia supported the following 2016 candidates:

• Allen Buckley, U.S. Senate

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Georgia Libertarian Party'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Libertarian Party of Georgia - Google News

See also

• Libertarian Party
• Georgia

External links

• Georgia Libertarian Party Website
• Georgia Libertarian Party on Facebook
• Georgia Libertarian Party on Twitter