GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES http://www.gp.org
Monday, November 8, 2004
Contacts: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-487-0693, mclarty at greens.org Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576, nallen at acadia.net
GREENS CHARGE KERRY'S CONCESSION BROKE HIS PROMISE THAT EVERY VOTE BE COUNTED, WARN OF DEMOCRATIC SURRENDER TO BUSH'S 'MANDATE'
Will Zell Miller be the model for Democrats in the next four years?, ask Greens.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Greens joined numerous Democrats in criticizing John Kerry's quick concession to President Bush in light of thousands of uncounted and obstructed votes and wide discrepancies between counted votes and exit polls.
"Mr. Kerry wanted to avoid a repeat of the 2000 Florida debacle, but in conceding quickly he broke his promise to make sure every vote was counted," said Ben Manski, Wisconsin Green and co-founder of the No Stolen Elections! campaign. "The widespread reports of election tampering, voting machine breakdowns, intimidated and blocked voters, electioneering phone calls that spread misinformation, and voters misidentified as felons made it necessary in 2004 to count and verify every vote and make sure the election wasn't compromised. Regardless of whether Democrats retreat, Greens demand that every vote be counted."
Noting that Ken Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State and a long-time Republican politician, had already been the target of numerous complaints about voter obstruction, Greens said that partisan bureaucrats should be removed from the responsibility of counting votes.
The Green Party of the United States has endorsed measures to ensure fair and accurate elections, including an auditable paper ballot trail for every vote. The votes of at least a third of the U.S. electorate are currently unverifiable, because of the lack of a paper ballot trail.
A state-based index of news articles compiled by Demos detailing obstruction of voters, miscounting of votes, and voting machine breakdowns can be found at <http://www.demos-usa.org/page196.cfm>.
Greens said that Mr. Kerry's quick concession portends other Democratic surrenders to President Bush's supposed 'mandate'.
"Despite the rhetoric about 'healing', the Bush Administration is already claiming a mandate to enact its radical ideology," said Jody Grage Haug, co-chair of the Green Party. "Equally dangerous is that the leadership of the Democratic Party will see the Bush victory as a motivation to retreat even further from the party's willingness to fight for working people and issues important to progressive voters."
Greens recall that one of the legacies of the Reagan years was the establishment of the Democratic Leadership Council. DLC members Bill Clinton, Al Gore, party chair Terry McAuliffe, and others persuaded their party to abandon national health insurance and other Democratic positions, embrace Reagan planks like 'welfare reform' and space-based missile defense, and make numerous other concessions to corporate lobbies.
"The model for the Democratic Party's future might be Zell Miller," said Nan Garrett, member of the Georgia Green Party. "Greens are the only party offering a sane alternative to bipartisan consensus behind Bush's radical neocon agenda."
MORE INFORMATION
The Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org 1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404 Washington, DC 20009. 202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN Fax 202-319-7193
2004 Green candidates and election results http://www.greens.org/elections
Beyond Voting Campaign http://www.beyondvoting.org
November 3rd Democracy Movement http://www.nov3.us/ -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>