Biography
Jenness was the party's candidate for Governor of Georgia in 1970. She did not get on the ballot, because to get on, she would have had to collect 88,175 signatures, and the Socialist Workers Party didn't have enough members to collect that many signatures. Jenness, the SWP and two congressional candidates of the party brought a lawsuit, Jenness v. Fortson, 403 U.S. 431 (1971), regarding Georgia's ballot access standards, a case about which a supporter of the SWP has said it "continues to haunt the jurisprudence of ballot access law" (Raskin 2003, page 103).
She was also involved in the case 26 F.C.C.2d 485 (1970), regarding media coverage of third-party candidates.
In 1972, Jenness, vice presidential candidate Andrew Pulley, and People's Party candidates Benjamin Spock and Julius Hobson wrote to Major General Bert A. David, commanding officer of Fort Dix in New Jersey asking for permission to distribute campaign literature and to hold an election-related campaign meeting. Based on Fort Dix regulations 210-26 and 210–27, General David refused the request. Ultimately the case made its way to the United States Supreme Court (424 U.S. 828—Greer, Commander, Fort Dix Military Reservation, et al., v. Spock et al., which ruled against the plaintiffs).
Aged 31 at time of the election, she did not meet the Constitutional age requirement to hold the office of President, but the SWP was on the ballot in 25 states—six more than in 1968. She qualified for the Ohio ballot but was removed when she could not prove she was 35.[3]
As of September 2010, Linda Jenness was still an active supporter of the SWP.[4] Jenness is also a feminist. In the April 27, 1973 issue of Militant, she wrote that feminism "is where women are out fighting for things that are in their interest. Feminism is wherever women are challenging the traditional roles assigned to them."[5]
