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  Matt Bevin’s Libertarian opponent says the Kentucky election just proved his point
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Last Editedev0lv  Nov 11, 2019 12:38pm
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AuthorJane Coaston
News DateFriday, November 8, 2019 08:50:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionIn Kentucky’s gubernatorial election this week, Democratic candidate Andy Beshear defeated Republican incumbent Matt Bevin, winning 49.19 percent of the vote to Bevin’s 48.83 percent — a difference of just a few thousand votes.

A third candidate, Libertarian Party candidate John Hicks, took part in the race as well — and he won about 28,426 votes, far more than the difference in votes between Beshear and Bevin.

And Hicks is getting the blame for Bevin’s loss from some angry conservatives.

The Daily Caller’s Daniel Klein writes, “Libertarians who take responsibility for the consequences of their conduct need to face up to [the damages of third parties]. There is more to political virtue than flashing one’s supposed allegiance to liberty.”

But Hicks thinks the election just makes his case. He ran on a platform calling for electoral reform, telling me that the election proved, “We really do need election reform in this country” to ensure that voters are heard. “Our electoral system causes alienation,” he said, “where people are just turned off by politics.”

And adding to his point, Bevin is refusing to concede the race. He claims that voting “irregularities” took place, saying Wednesday that “thousands of absentee ballots were illegally counted” and Kentuckians were turned away from the polls — with absolutely no evidence of his claims. I reached out to Gov. Bevin’s office and will update if and when I hear back, but Republican Party lawmakers are asking Bevin to “let it go,” and Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said Friday, “It’s time [for Bevin] to call it quits and go home, say he had a good four years and congratulate Gov.-elect Beshear.”

Hicks told me he hoped the election showed that independent voters were a force to be reckoned with. And the Libertarian Party of Kentucky put it more bluntly on Facebook, writing, “If our friends in the major parties do not want this to happen again
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