No More Stolen Elections!

Unite for Voting Rights and Democratic Elections

Liberty Tree’s work to build a movement to democratize defense made its next major foray with Bring the Guard Home: It’s the Law!, a national effort that eventually grew to include campaigns in 20 states to end the unconstitutional deployment of National Guard units to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other wars of aggression. Based in legal research by former Vermont ACLU Executive Director Benson Scotch and by Liberty Tree’s Ben Manski, and led by activists like Leah Bolger, Elaine Brower, Jean Athey, Steve Burns and Dan Handleman from Veterans for Peace, Cities for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, CODE PINK, Peace Action, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and independent grassroots coalitions in key states, as well as key state legislators such as Rep. Michael Fisher of Vermont and Rep. Spencer Black of Wisconsin, the campaign centered on state legislation requiring governors to review federal callups of the state National Guard units for their constitutionality. Legislation was introduced in 13 states, and won approval by the lower chamber in Maryland and Oregon. The campaign continued through 2009 but, while initially involving support from Democratic, Green, Libertarian and some Republican party organizations, eventually suffered attrition among Democrats due to opposition from the newly elected Obama administration.

Over the course of 2008, Liberty Tree organized the No More Stolen Elections! campaign, a followup to the 2004 No Stolen Elections! work. Because the margin of the 2008 presidential election was not close, no presidential recount occurred. Nonetheless, voters gathered together in nearly 50 Voter Assemblies across the country on the day after the election to review reports of voting rights violations and election fraud compiled by the No More Stolen Elections! staff and volunteers. 
Finally, Liberty Tree went through a major and difficult re-organization as internal governance problems combined with a huge decline in fundraising stemming from the 2008 financial crash. The organization suspended publication of the Liberty Tree Journal, laid off all of its staff, and restructured to a more traditional board of directors oversight model. Nonetheless, the work continued, and by the end of 2009, the organization was back in the black and remained in the business of making history.

No More Stolen ElectionsDefense Reform