John Hagelin / Nat Goldhaber 2000

The results of this remarkable 2000 election continue to come in--and they demonstrate the growing strength of the Natural Law-Independent coalition as a national political force.

Over 100 million Americans voted in this millennial election, and so far our Natural Law-Independent coalition candidates have received over 1.4 million votes nationwide. The average vote totals were 2.5%, with a great many candidates winning 10%-20% of the vote, and several winning 20%-30%. These figures represent the highest average vote totals and the highest average percentages for Natural Law candidates in any election, anywhere in the world. We send our congratulations to all our candidates across the nation.

In addition, results for many local races, including those for our New York Independence Party partners, are still coming in. These overall election results indicate that 1 million voters-- and growing--have cast their ballots for our candidates.

To date, our top votegetters are John Eastman (Ohio: U.S. Senate) with 69,152; Margaret Palms (North Carolina: Attorney General) with 66,071; Brian Rees (California: U.S. Senate) with 52,644; and Tom Groover (Colorado: State Board of Education) with 50,487. Candidates with the highest percentages are Nancy Miller (Ohio: Green County Commissioner) with 30%; Kent Hyde (South Dakota: State Senate) with 23%; Ann Hope Vegors (Idaho: State Assembly) with 22%; and Carlos Perez (Washington: State Assembly) with 20%.

Four Natural Law Party state affiliates deserve special recog- nition for the success of their campaigns and organizational efforts. California (Louise Allison and Judy Barath Black, NLP co-chairs) led the pack with 380,000 NLP votes, followed by Ohio (Zanna Feitler, chair) with 176,000, Michigan (Bill and Gail Quarton, co-chairs) with 125,000, and Colorado (Dr. Cheryl Beckett, chair) with 117,000.

Thanks to the successful statewide campaigns of our candidates, the Natural Law Party won automatic ballot access for the next election in Montana (Rebecca Scott, State Auditor, 5%), Utah (Elliot J. Hulet, State Treasurer, 4%), and Oregon (Leonard Zack, State Treasurer, 2%). Plus, we will maintain our ballot access in California, Nevada, Colorado, Mississippi, South Carolina, Delaware, Vermont, Hawaii, and other states.

These results are actually rather remarkable, considering that only about 20% of the voters ever heard or saw our Presidential candidate John Hagelin or our other Natural Law candidates, due to the media's virtual shutout of third parties. Therefore, a large percentage (about 15%) of voters who were exposed to our candidates supported them with their votes--and were even willing to "risk" their votes on a candidate they knew would not win.

The Presidential Race

The notable exception to these high percentages was the Presidential race. All third-party Presidential vote totals (Nader, Buchanan, Browne, Hagelin, and Phillips) were severely suppressed, averaging 60% less than polls predicted even a few days before the election. This Presidential election was the closest in U.S. history, one that will ultimately be decided by only 300 votes. Many people were simply unwilling to cast their vote for a third-party candidate. The Hagelin/Goldhaber campaign tried to combat this "lesser of evils" psychology, but the mass hysteria swept up even some of our strongest supporters.

Thus, from the standpoint of the Presidential vote, the 2000 election was truly anomalous. The vote totals did not reflect the sentiments of the people, which were more accurately expressed by the much higher percentages garnered by our other Natural Law-Independent coalition candidates.

However, John Hagelin succeeded in his effort to forge the largest coalition of third parties in U.S. history. He won the nominations and endorsements of Ross Perot's Reform Party (minus the Buchanan wing) and the Independence Party of New York (America's largest third party). Governor Jesse Ventura, head of the Independence Party of Minnesota, also endorsed Dr. Hagelin's candidacy. This powerful political coalition will provide a solid foundation for future campaigns.

In addition, John Hagelin received a ringing endorsement from the largest organization in America, representing 30 million Americans suffering from chronic diseases. This organization sent out two glowing letters of endorsement to all its 30 million members, applauding Dr. Hagelin's support for preventive and alternative medicine.

These successes from the presidential campaign, combined with the fast-growing support for all our Natural Law-Independent coalition candidates, demonstrate that our vision of a powerful national political coalition dedicated to commonsense solutions is now a reality.

As always, the Natural Law Party will not close its doors now that the election is over. We will continue to work with all independent-minded voters and candidates to expand this coalition and to demand true foundational reforms--crucial solutions in education, health, crime, trade, foreign policy, and the environment--that cannot wait four more years. Please continue to work with us!