Libertarians plan protest convoy

Libertarians from Las Cruces and Doña Ana County will participate in a protest convoy Saturday, Aug. 8, beginning at 10 a.m. at 519 Boutz Road.

The convoy is protesting the exclusion of Libertarian presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen from the televised presidential debates. Organizers welcome public participation in the convoy, which will travel east on University Avenue, then north across Telshor, ending along Main Street, with various detours along the way.

The convoy is part of a national protest and is one of more than 100 scheduled to be held nationwide, according to local Libertarian activists.

At the national level, Libertarians claim the protest is needed to call attention to the following areas of concern to them:

• Voters are manipulated by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).
• In 2012, the minimum poll score to participate in debates was 10 percent. When Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson got 12 percent, the CPD raised it to 15 percent.
• The CPD selects polls to determine who is polling above 15 percent, but most of these do not include third-party candidates.
• The Supreme Court will not rule against the CPD because it is a “private organization,” even though it’s run by chairmen for the Democrat and Republican parties.

For more information on the Las Cruces protest, contact Marcy Shoberg at 575-621-0230 or marcy.shoberg@gmail.com.