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Green Party Results in March 02 Primaries and Elections.

Thursday, March 4, 2004

Contacts:
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576, nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org

GREEN PARTY RESULTS IN MARCH 2 PRIMARIES AND ELECTIONS

  • Greens cast votes for presidential candidates in Super Tuesday primary elections in California, Rhode Island, and Minnesota, with the following results:

  • In Santa Fe, New Mexico, Green municipal judge Fran Gallegos was re-elected to her third term on March 2, with 55% of the vote in a four-way election.  Ms. Gallegos is popular for her innovative sentencing practices that favor community service instead of imprisonment.  Ms. Gallegos, who is Latina, is currently the only Green judge in the U.S.

  • In California, Pamela Elizondo and Patricia Gray won contested Green congressional primaries.  Incumbent Michael Harrington, incumbent Green candidate for Davis City Council was defeated in a highly contested race, finishing fifth out of eight candidates for three seats.

  • After the March 2, 2004 elections, there are now 203 Greens elected to public office in the U.S.

Other Green election news:

  • In Maryland, thousands of voters protested the use of paperless electronic voting by demanding paper ballots and demonstrating at precincts in Takoma Park, Baltimore, and Annapolis.  The protests were organized by the Campaign for Verifiable Voting in Maryland (TrueVote) <http://www.TrueVoteMD.org>, led by Green activists Linda Schade and Kevin Zeese. TrueVote noted complaints that precincts in Anne Arundel and Montgomery Counties had computer crashes, votes were lost, Democrats were given computer cards for Republican ballots, and the choices on some machines were incomplete.

  • TrueVote estimated that one-third of Maryland voters who requested paper ballots were given them.  While many judges expressed concern with the new electronic voting system, they followed the orders of the Maryland Board of Elections and refused to provide paper ballots.  Greens across the U.S. have called for paper ballots in response to flawed, easily manipulable, and unverifiable computer voting machines.

  • The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics has refused to release the names and to count the votes cast for write-in Green candidates in District's January 13 primary, prompting DC Statehood Greens to charge that the Board is blocking the party from selecting delegates for the national Green convention.  As many as 3 of the 11 Statehood Green delegates could be determined by the write-ins (31% of the total).

  • Statehood Greens were told that the Board's rules direct it not to count write-ins unless the count would modify the outcome of an election, i.e., who the winner is.  Statehood Greens argue that primaries are held not just to produce a winner, but to apportion delegates, which requires a complete list of candidates, including write-ins, and the numbers of votes they received, and assert that the Board has an obligation to comply with the party's presidential primary plan to select delegates, which the Board approved in 2003.  The D.C. Statehood Green Party is pursuing legal action.  More at http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org

MORE INFORMATION

Forward 2004! Green Party Presidential Convention
& Candidates
http://www.gp.org/convention/process.html
Media credentialing for the convention
http://www.gp.org/forms/media/

Green Party candidates and elections
http://www.gp.org/patience.html
Green Party ballot status and voter registration
totals http://web.greens.org/stats/

The Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1711 18th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

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