Greens Urge National Support Of Ohio Recount

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Thursday, November 18, 2004

Greens Urge National Support for the Ohio Recount

The recount has been endorsed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the National Voting Rights Institute, People for the American Way, Common Cause, Fannie Lou Hamer Project, and others.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders urged national support for the Ohio recount, which is proceeding under the leadership of 2004 presidential candidates David Cobb (Green Party) and Michael Badnarik (Libertarian Party).

"We encourage all Americans who care about the right to vote to support the Ohio recount," said Julia Willebrand, New York Green and co-president of the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas. "The recount is urgently necessary in the wake of documented voting irregularities: numerous press and independent reports of voter intimidation, mismarked and discarded ballots, problems with electronic voting machines, and the targeted disenfranchisement of voters, especially African Americans."

"The Ohio recount is unlikely to change the outcome of the 2004 election," Ms. Willebrand added. "Greens are pursuing a recount because it's the best way to ensure fair elections and accurate vote counts now and in the future. This is important regardless of who won the election. If one result of the Ohio recount is implementation of auditable paper ballot trails to verify all votes cast on computer voting machines, it will be a milestone victory for all voters."

The Ohio recount has been endorsed by Ohio Congressman and former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, the National Voting Rights Institute, Demos, People for the American Way Foundation, Common Cause, and the Fannie Lou Hamer Project http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1115-13.htm.

The Cobb and Badnarik campaigns have raised the required recount fee for the recount, and are now collecting money and volunteers for the monitoring effort.

"We've begun to see resistance from politicians who seem to have an interest in an unexamined vote process, and from the same press pundits who refused to question President Bush's fraudulent claims of Iraqi WMDs," said Marc Sanson, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. "For the Democratic Party's leadership, the lesson of the 2000 Florida scandal was that controversy should be avoided, even if votes were obstructed or uncounted. For the Green Party, the lesson of 2000 is that we need to fight for fair elections, for accurate vote counts, and for the future of our democracy."

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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

Cobb/LaMarche 2004 Campaign (Ohio recount news)
http://www.votecobb.org/

2004 Green candidates and election results
http://www.greens.org/elections
http://gp.org/2004election/president2004.html

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