Today we are announcing the appointment of Shilpi Niyogi as the National Director of Ballot Access. Niyogi brings Unity08 almost two decades of experience in communications, public affairs, and local organization. Niyogi's main goal is to provide Unity08 with ballot access in all 50 states for the 2024 Presidential election. Read the press release.
Mark your calendar for a web chat at Unity08.com with Shilpi on Thursday, August 30th at 12pm ET. Then, welcome Shilpi by posting a question about ballot access that will be considered for the web chat.
ADDITION: Read the chat transcript.
From Doug Bailey...
"Ballot access work takes patience and perseverance. Shilpi Niyogi has both. She will not be deterred by the irrelevant or out-of-date restrictions that some states have -- nor by the insistence of both political parties to limit the people to voting for the lesser of two evils. Shilpi is a steady, resourceful, determined organizer who will get it done."
From Robert Bingham...
"Shilpi has the American can-do attitude that is required for organizing our Ballot Access drive, one of three pillars of our organization, along with technology and candidate outreach. Shilpi is the kind of leader we need to make this happen."
Don't forget... Shilpi Niyogi, Unity08’s National Director of Ballot Access, will host a live online chat on Thursday, August 30 at 12 p.m. EDT at unity08.com.
Post your ballot access question for Shilpi in the comments below!
ADDITION: Read the chat transcript.
Tags: 
unity08, election, president, government, bipartisan, politics, news and politics, ballot access
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Welcome Aboard Shilpi:
We had the first New York City Unity08 MeetUp on Tuesday, August 28th. We will be meeting the fourth Tuesday of every month. I'll post an announcement elsewhere. Here is a question we came up with:
Is Unity08 going to hire paid circulators or rely on an army of volunteers?
I'd like to be contacted regarding ballot access in New York. Two of the folks who came to our MeetUp on Tuesday have a lot of experience in this arena.
Again, welcome aboard
William, please send your contact information (email, phone, mailing address) to shilpi@unity08.com to be contacted about ballot access in your area.
Bob Roth
VP Online Marketing, Unity08
info@unity08.com
**Don't forget to vote on forum topics!**
Shilpi,
Welcome to the Unity08 Action.
Task and time parameters need to be known quickly. Also, who or what group is the focal point for PA ballot access effort?
Joe Bucara
I'm a recruiter not a ballot man - I have to do most of my work from home due to : age, bum ticker and gammy leg, that said - what I do - I do in plain language AND WELL, click on www.america-21stcentury.com and see for yourself !!
Again, Welcome to the winning team ..
Pete (popo) Evans
ps : I don't see too well or hear too well Either !!
Thanks for the warm welcome and offers of assistance--hope you'll all join me for the live chat tomorrow at 12 noon EDT. In the meantime, we need to start building up and organzing our state volunteers to help circulate petitions and gather signatures to get on the ballot. Please send me an email at shilpi@unity08.com with your contact info and which state or states you'd like to help get us on the ballot.
The reform party is almost defunct. Wouldn't it be better use of resources to take control of Reform?
Its not such a bad name, we could change it probably.
I would think they still have access in may states.
We have similiar goals, but a different political sensibilty.
If we dont do it, its an opportunity for someone else.
There are two reform parties - the one that Pat Buchanan ran into the ground to protect the Republicans and an organization called the Formers, who left when it happenned. It might be worthwhile to use their ballot line, with a different name - although taking control of it may prove difficult as it has national officers of an arch conservative ilk. This means we would have to find their meetings and crash them and then outvote them. Sounds messy. However, recruiting members of the Formers may be worthwhile anyway, as they are natural Unity members.
I propose that we maximize our efforts while making the job of ballot access real easy.
If we are here to win (and if we aren't we need to quit), we need to appoint electors in each state and, more importantly, run candidates in for each House seat. The House elections are necessary because if we are at all successful we will prevent either of the major parties from winning a majority of electoral votes, throwing the election to the House. When this happens, we need House members to vote for us or block other states from voting at all by making sure they have no majority in one party. That way, if we come in second in the electoral vote count (a real possibility given dissatisfaction with the War in Iraq) we can insist that the Republicans give us their support in the House, where they control many small states. Of course, because their popularity is waning, these many small states might be amenable to voting for our House candidates.
What does this mean for ballot access, you ask? (actually, I don't expect you have to - you can guess by now).
Each of the House candidates and their campaign committees will become built in petition circulators for the national ticket - and if we do a good job in publicizing our efforts - we will have 437 candidates (presuming Utah gets an extra seat).
Michael Bindner
Presidential Candidate
In an organization such as the one described below (Ms. Shilpi Niyogi's former employer ETS), a job with the title of "Executive Director of Government Relations and Market Research" might seem to require at least a tangential understanding of ETS questionable standing with the IRS (ETS claims non-profit status) and its unnatural position (an untaxed competitor) in an otherwise competitive market. And having this understanding (and perhaps supporting what appears to be a clear case of public-private cronyism); why does this make Ms. Niyogi a good choice for leading a revolt against just such state-sponsored crony-capitalism?
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The citing below is from an abstract of an article published in 1997 in the NYTimes:
(http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30915FB3B5E0C738FDDA00894DF494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fE%2fEducational%20Testing%20Service)
"The Testing Empire, on Educational Testing Service, nation's largest educational testing organization, which is celebrating 50th anniversary; not only has company come under criticism for failure to address increased incidents of cheating and fraud, but also for what critics say is its transformation into highly competitive business operation that is as much multinational monopoly as nonprofit institution--one capable of charging hefty fees, laying off workers and using sharp elbows in competing against rivals; even as it edges more toward large, competitive company, it remains nonprofit organization--status critics say gives it unfair advantage; mounting criticism has rekindled debate over whether it deserves nonprofit status, which has exempted it from tens of millions of dollars in Federal income taxes..."
While Ms. Niyogi, was serving as the Executive Director of Government Relations and Market Research (of something), her primary responsible was for the development, management and execution of a corporate advocacy agenda at the state and federal level in the U.S. -- in other words, Ms. Niyog is (was) a registered federal lobbyist.
ex animo
davidfarrar
Welcome Shilbl!!
Have we given any thought to trying to use the internet to meet the signature requirements for ballot access?
I think the topic is getting ballot access in the general election, not the unity nomination. As such, we have to play by the rules of the 50 states which do not allow internet signatures for ballot access.
Some states do have their forms online, but you still have to print them out and mail them in. Bob Roth VP Online Marketing, Unity08 info@unity08.com **NEW! Comment Voting & Subscriptions!** To learn about them, click here.
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