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State News Release - Dec 10, 2002 |
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| Green Party Sues to Maintain Right for Voters to Enroll as Greens. |
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For Immediate Release: December 10, 2002 Green Party Sues to Maintain Right for Voters to Enroll as Greens The Green Party announced that it will file a lawsuit in federal district court today in Brooklyn to maintain the right of voters to enroll in the Green Party in New York State. The Greens are being represented in the lawsuit by the Brennan Center for Justice. The Greens are seeking to continue to have their party listed on the voter registration forms as an option for voters, and to prevent the state and county Board of Elections from dis-enrolling the more than 30,000 individuals currently enrolled as Green Party members. The enrollments of these voters would be switched to blank if the State Board of Elections, at its meeting on Friday, December 13, were to decertify the Greens as a political party. This will happen if the Green gubernatorial candidate, Stanley Aronowitz, fails to receive 50,000 votes. "The State of New York wants to deny voters the right to affiliate with the Green Party, despite the fact that we are the third largest political party in the country. Voters have a constitutional right under the First Amendment of the federal constitution to join together as a political party. We believe it is unfair and illegal that the two major parties use their control of the State Legislature to write laws that deny voters the right to choose the party they belong to," stated Mark Dunlea, an attorney and Chair of the state Green Party. "New York is one of only three states that impose strict limitations on the rights of voters to enroll in the party of their choice when they register or vote,” explains Jeremy Creelan of the Brennan Center. “If the Green Party loses its official status as a party, which we currently expect on Friday, its members will be stripped of their party affiliation, new registrants will be unable to enroll in the party, and the party itself will be unable to organize its supporters to maintain their voice in the marketplace of ideas. That burden is unnecessary, and violates the rights of New Yorkers who seek to come together as a party to be heard." If the State will no longer register voters as members of the Green Party, the Party will lose a crucial tool for effective outreach and organizing, and voters will lose their opportunity to express their political views through identification with a particular party and its platform. " Voters who believe in peace, campaign finance reform, universal health care, an end to the war on drugs, and progressive tax and budget policies need to be allowed to provide an alternative to the failed policies of the Democrats and Republicans," said Kimberly Wilder, a member of the Executive Committee of the state Green Party. Mary Jo Long, the Green's Attorney General candidate, had 48,801 votes in the preliminary unofficial count, and is likely to go over 50,000 in the official total. Aronowitz has at least 42,000 votes and Howie Hawkins, the Comptroller candidate, had 46,000 votes in the preliminary county Green Presidential candidate Ralph Nader received 244,030 votes in New York in 2000. In 2001, the Federal Election Commission formally recognized the Green Party of the US as a national committee of a political party. Nationally, the Green Party had its best showing ever in the recent elections, electing 70 officials to public offices around the country. The number of elected Greens now stands at 172. The party won its second state legislative seat, in Maine, and won its first victories in Texas, Nebraska and Iowa. Many Green candidates for state legislative office recorded vote totals of more than 20- 30%, and in the double digits in races with both Democrats and Republicans. Green candidate AnnDrea Benson in Pennsylvania's 3rd Congressional District won 22%, the best yet for a Green in a House race. Copies of the lawsuit will be available later today at
www.brennancenter.org |
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