American Solidarity Party Presidential Ticket Achieves Ballot Access in Colorado

From the website http://www.solidarity-party.org/#!colorado-ballot-access/w187d 

The American Solidarity Party has successfully placed its presidential candidate, Mike Maturen and his running mate Juan Munoz of Texas on the ballot in Colorado. Todd Lowman, the chair of the American Solidarity Party of Colorado, praised the Colorado Secretary of State’s office for its responsiveness, allowing the party to finish raising funds for the filing fee, recruit a slate of presidential electors, and turn in the necessary paperwork hours before the state’s deadline on August 10. Lowman invites potential campaign volunteers to join the American Solidarity Party of Colorado’s Facebook group or contact him at coloradoasp@yahoo.com. The ASP sees opportunities in Colorado, where the Republican Party is widely dissatisfied with presidential candidate Donald Trump’s polarizing rhetoric and unclear policy positions, while many voters of all political identifications are uncomfortable with the Democratic Party’s views on abortion and growing centralization of authority in the Federal government, among other issues.

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     The ASP also hopes to achieve ballot access this month in Louisiana and Florida, as these states also give third parties a greater chance to succeed. Chris Reed, the chair of the American Solidarity Party of Louisiana, who expressed excitement about the possibility of voting for a “whole life party”, notes that the party does not yet have a member willing to serve as a presidential elector from the fourth congressional district, centered near Shreveport, and must raise $500 by August 19. In Florida, the ASP is filing paperwork to be officially incorporated as a state political party, and must have 29 presidential electors officially registered with the party by the end of August. The ASP state chapters in Louisiana and Florida each have active Facebook groups. The ASP is also exploring possibilities for presidential ballot access in several other states, is actively working to register the presidential ticket as a write-in campaign in over 30 states, plans to join efforts by other minor parties to overturn difficult ballot access laws, and is preparing to build local organizations which will run candidates for a variety of offices in the 2018 elections.

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     The party’s platform, which can be found here, is inspired by Catholic social teaching and the ideas of Christian Democratic parties in Europe. In contrast to its socially conservative views, it is center-left on most issues related to economics, immigration, the environment, and foreign policy, while arguing for local government control of policy when practical and significant reforms in taxation. Its members are aware that running a primarily write-in campaign for President in most states is a difficult task, but presidential candidate Mike Maturen has argued that current partisan polarization has made the development of alternatives necessary. The ASP has also determined that the Libertarian Party, Green Party and other minor parties do not hold to the values present in the American Solidarity Party’s platform, and that they, along with the Democrats and Republicans, leave a significant segment of the electorate unrepresented. By most measures (registered members and social media followers), the party has doubled in size since the nomination of the presidential ticket last month. Its public Facebook page comes in slightly ahead of the Reform Party and only slightly behind Better for America, two more well-known centrist parties running similar presidential campaigns, which will have ballot access in only a few states while running write-in campaigns in most others.

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     The party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates are available for print, radio and television interviews, and the national and state parties are running an active social media campaign. Vice-presidential candidate, Juan Munoz, in a statement for this press release, thanked supporters in Colorado and across the nation; “I'm excited to hear the ticket will be on the ballot in Colorado. More than that, I'm humbled to be part of a movement that would inspire people to volunteer their time, talent, and treasure in order to give themselves the best choice for the future of our country.”



For further information, please visit our other pages, like us on Facebook, orcontact Christopher Keller, Campaign Media Manager:          americansolidaritypartyasp@gmail.com(Please address correspondence to Christopher by name)