[GPSCC-chat] Fw: Fwd: RELEASE North Carolina Green & Libertarian Parties file lawsuite for equitable ballot access

[Caroline Yacoub]

Why are we not mounting a legal challenge to Prop.14? It disenfranchises us.



----- Forwarded Message ----
From: shane que hee <squehee at ucla.edu>
Sent: Tue, August 31, 2010 10:35:45 AM
Subject: Fwd: RELEASE North Carolina Green & Libertarian Parties file lawsuite 
for equitable ballot access


>Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:02:57 -0400
>Subject: RELEASE North Carolina Green & Libertarian Parties file lawsuite for
>  equitable ballot access
>From: Green News - DC <dcsgpnews10 at gmail.com>
>
>(Distributed by the Green Party of the United States, http://www.gp.org)
>
>North Carolina Green Party
>
>For immediate release
>Tuesday, August 31, 2010
>
>Contact: Theresa El-Amin
>Phone Number: 919-824-0659
>E-mail: teagreenparty at aol.com
>Web site: http://www.ncgreenparty.org
>
>
>Green and Libertarian Parties File Lawsuit for Equitable Ballot Access
>in North Carolina
>
>• Press conference, 9 am in front of the courthouse in Raleigh on Sept. 9
>
>
>On September 9, 2010 , the North Carolina Supreme Court will hear oral
>arguments from the North Carolina Green Party and the Libertarian
>Party of North Carolina at 9:30 am, 2 East Morgan Street, Raleigh
>27601.
>
>The action was filed by the Libertarian Party in 2005 and joined later
>by the North Carolina Green Party (http://www.ncgreenparty.org). Both
>parties will argue that current ballot access laws deny third parties
>full rights guaranteed by the state constitution. Members and
>supporters of both parties will gather at 9 am in front of the court
>for a press conference.
>
>North Carolina Green Party members are active in the national Green
>Party (http://www.gp.org) and hosted the Annual National Meeting of
>the Green Party in 2009 in Durham at North Carolina Central University
>(NCCU). The Durham meeting was the first time an annual national
>meeting of the Green Party was held at an historically black college
>or university (HBCU).
>
>"The Green Party has 27 ballot lines throughout the US and continues
>to grow in spite of attempts to suppress voter access to choices other
>than the two major parties," said Theresa El-Amin, North Carolina
>Green Party activist and recently elected co-chair of the Green Party
>of the United States. "There are 321 Greens running in 2010 for local,
>statewide and Congressional seats. All fair-minded people support
>ballot access laws that do not require unreasonable use of time and
>financial resources. We will continue to fight for justice in North
>Carolina."
>
>"It's a matter of giving voters alternative choices at election
>times," said Alan Burns, Green Party member and environmental activist
>of Charlotte, NC. "Every two years in North Carolina, over 50% of
>House and Senate seats have only one name on the ballot, and more than
>85% of results are predictable for the two major parties before polls
>open. It's far cry from democratic rights for voters."
>
>According to Richard Winger, the country's foremost expert on ballot
>access laws, "North Carolina requires 2% of voters in the most recent
>statewide election to sign petitions for a political party to be
>listed with candidates on the ballot. The massive turnout of over 4
>million voters in 2008 in North Carolina set the requirement for
>ballot access at 85,379 valid signatures of registered voters."
>
>In 2008, the Green Party nominated Cynthia McKinney, former Georgia
>Congresswoman, for President of the United States. The North Carolina
>Green Party ran a write-in campaign for McKinney. Given the low number
>of write-in votes reported, NC Greens questioned whether all the votes
>were actually counted.  Greens assert that ballot access is the only
>way to know for certain whether one's vote will be counted.
>
>
>#######
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