Christina Tobin
Christina Tobin | |
|---|---|
 Tobin in 2022 | |
| Born | June 17, 1981[1] Pasadena, Texas,U.S.[2] |
| Alma mater | Saint Mary's University of Minnesota |
| Occupation(s) | Founder and Chair of The Free & Equal Elections Foundation |
| Political party | Independent [2] |
Christina Tobin(born June 17, 1981) is anAmericanactivistand leader in the election reform and voters' rights movements. She is the founder and chair of TheFree & Equal Elections Foundation,[3]and president and chief executive officer of Free and Equal, Inc.[4]
Background
[edit]Tobin was born inPasadena, Texas,in 1981. She grew up inTexasandIllinoisand graduated fromFenwick High SchoolinOak Park, Illinois.She attendedSaint Mary's UniversityinWinona, Minnesotawhere she served as varsity tennis captain and volunteered forHabitat for Humanity.In 2004, she earned a bachelor's degree in graphic design with a minor inbusiness marketing.
Career and activism
[edit]Tobin started her career as anon-partisanballot accesscoordinator. An expert in defending signatures and coordinating petition drives, Tobin has helped gather and defend over one million signatures forindependents,theGreen Party,[5]theConstitution Party,theRepublican Party,[6]theDemocratic Party,theLibertarian Party[7]and theSocialist Equality Party.
Free & Equal Elections Foundation
[edit]In 2008, Tobin founded the Free & Equal Elections Foundation,[8]a501(c)(3)non-profit,non-partisangrassrootsorganization, whose mission is to empower American voters through education.
Free & Equal hosts open gubernatorial, Presidential and senatorial debates, including the 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024 Presidential debates moderated byPulitzer Prizewinning journalistChris Hedges,[9]broadcast legendLarry King,[10]Thom HartmannofFree Speech TV,[11]andEmmy Awardwinning actorEd Asner.[12]
Illinois campaigns
[edit]In the 1998 election for governor of Illinois, Tobin helped defend over 60,000 signatures for her father, Libertarian candidateJames Tobin.In 2002, she personally gathered over 5,000 signatures and successfully defended 55,000 signatures for Cal Skinner, who was running for governor, and her father, who was running for lieutenant governor representing the Libertarian Party.[13]
In the 2004 presidential election, Tobin defended 29,000 signatures in Illinois forRalph Naderwhen he ran as an independent.[14]She also sued Democratic State Chair Michael Madigan alleging that he used his full-time state employees to have Nader removed from the Illinois ballot.[15]
For the November 2006 election, she successfully defended 39,000 signatures for Rich Whitney, the Green Party candidate for Illinois governor.[16]
Ralph Nader's 2008 presidential campaign
[edit]In 2008, Tobin served as Ralph Nader's national ballot access coordinator.[17]She helped collect more than 500,000 signatures to putRalph Naderon the District of Columbia ballot and 45 state presidential ballots,[18]more than any otherthird partyor independent candidate. While coordinating the national ballot drive in 50 states, Tobin organized a successful petition drive in Illinois,Pennsylvania,ConnecticutandNew York.
BaliJewel Inc. lawsuit
[edit]In 2008, Tobin filed a lawsuit againstJohn Hardy Limited,alleging harassment of jewelry designers inBaliand improper copyrighting of a Balinese folk motif.[19]
Free and Equal, Inc.
[edit]In March 2009, Tobin founded Free and Equal, Inc., a non-partisan, full-service ballot access consulting and petitioning firm that specializes in independent and third-party candidates. Tobin has helped gather and defend over one million signatures forindependents,theGreen Party,[5]theConstitution Party,theRepublican Party,[6]theDemocratic Party,theLibertarian Party[7]and theSocialist Equality Party.Free and Equal, Inc. does not endorse any candidates for office. She serves as president and chief executive officer.
Taxpayers United of America
[edit]In 2011, Tobin served as Vice President ofTaxpayers United of America,founded by her fatherJames Tobin.Her work exposed big pension payouts in Illinois and other states.[20]
Activism to Stop the Top Two Primary System
[edit]Tobin is a passionate activist against the top two primary systems. In 2012, she founded Stop Top Two,[21]a movement designed to educate voters of the machinations behind the relatively new electoral trend. Louisiana, Washington and California elections are now controlled via top two primary systems. Arizona's version of a top two primary system, Proposition 121, was defeated by Arizona voters November 2012. The main objective of Tobin's Stop Top Two movement was to defeat the proposition through education, media outreach and panel discussions, including the "Problems with Arizona's Top Two Primary System – Proposition 121" panel presented by the Free & Equal Elections Foundation at the Goldwater Institute on October 9, 2012.[22]
California Secretary of State candidacy
[edit]In 2010, Tobin ran as aLibertarian Partycandidate for theCalifornia Secretary of State election.[23][24]She formally announced her candidacy for Secretary of State on February 23, 2010.[25]She was the only candidate seeking the Libertarian Party nomination.Richard Winger,editor and publisher ofBallot Access Newswas her campaign manager.
In the general election, Tobin came in fourth with 214,347 votes, 2.3 percent of the total votes cast.[26]
References
[edit]- ^"JoinCalifornia – Christina Tobin".www.joincalifornia.com.
- ^abhttps://www.facebook.com/pg/Christina-Tobin-525849220821918/about/?entry_point=page_nav_about_item&tab=page_info[user-generated source]
- ^"About « Free And Equal".Freeandequal.org. Archived fromthe originalon 2010-11-06.Retrieved2010-11-17.
- ^"Free & Equal Inc. – Full-Service Ballot Access Consulting and Petitioning Firm".Freeandequalinc.com. Archived fromthe originalon 2010-11-19.Retrieved2010-11-17.
- ^ab"Daily Herald | Foes try to knock Green Party off ballot in 14th Congressional District".Daily Herald.dailyherald.com. 21 November 2009.Retrieved18 January2014.
- ^ab"Blogger: Aanmelden om te lezen".Chicagoray.blogspot.com. 4 February 2009.Retrieved2010-11-17.
- ^ab"Challenging Illinois' Ballot Access Laws — Illinois Green Party".www.ilgp.org.Archived fromthe originalon November 19, 2008.
- ^"Free & Equal | More Voices, More Choices".freeandequal.org. Archived fromthe originalon 28 November 2017.Retrieved18 January2014.
- ^Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:Third Party Presidential Debate (Full Video).YouTube.
- ^Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:2012 Third Party Presidential Debate | 2012 Third Party Presidential Debate | Ora TV.YouTube.
- ^Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:2012 Second Presidential Debate Moderated by Thom Hartmann & Christina Tobin.YouTube.
- ^Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:2016 Presidential Debate Moderated by Ed Asner & Christina Tobin.YouTube.
- ^"Huntley School Supt. Burkey Says He Used Vacation Days to Go to China".McHenry County Blog. 2010-03-13.Retrieved2010-11-17.
- ^"Nader collects enough signatures for Illinois ballot spot – Rockford, IL – Rockford Register Star".Rrstar.com. 2008-06-24. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-09-09.Retrieved2010-11-17.
- ^Mullman, Jeremy (2004-09-27)."Nader aide sues Madigan | Law | Crain's Chicago Business".Chicagobusiness.com.Retrieved2010-11-17.
- ^"Illinois Third Parties Unite to Protest Gov. Blagojevich's Ballot Fraud, Have Proof of Blago's Frivolous Objections — Illinois Green Party".www.ilgp.org.Archived fromthe originalon May 28, 2009.
- ^"Nader/Gonzalez Submit Signatures for Illinois Ballot Line – Ralph Nader for President in 2008".Votenader.org. 2008-06-20.Retrieved2010-11-17.
- ^"Ballot Access News » Blog Archive » Ralph Nader's Ballot Labels".Ballot-access.org. 25 August 2008.Retrieved2010-11-17.
- ^"Prominent Bali Jewelry Firm Sued in US".thebalitimes.com. 18 January 2008.Retrieved18 January2014.
- ^"Chicago Teachers Receiving Big Pension Payouts? | On Air Videos | Fox News".video.foxnews.com. May 2013.Retrieved18 January2014.
- ^"Stop Top Two".stoptoptwo.org. Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2014.Retrieved18 January2014.
- ^"Parker Pioneer – ParkerPioneer.net – News".parkerpioneer.net. 15 October 2012.Retrieved18 January2014.
- ^"Christina Tobin | Libertarian Party".Lp.org.Retrieved2010-11-17.
- ^"Ballot Access News » Blog Archive » Three Well-Known Election Law Activists Run for California Secretary of State".Ballot-access.org. 6 March 2010.Retrieved2010-11-17.
- ^"Campaign Kickoff « Christina Tobin For Secretary of State".tobinforca.org. Archived fromthe originalon 1 February 2014.Retrieved18 January2014.
- ^www.sos.ca.govhttps://web.archive.org/web/20140611025242/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2010-general/complete-sov.pdf.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on June 11, 2014.
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