With about three weeks left before filing our 2010 ballot petition, we need your help to get the signatures needed to deter a challenge from those who would deprive New York voters of real choices. So we’re calling for a statewide push to collect 5000 signatures this weekend. If 50 Greens gather 100 signatures each then we can make that goal — will you be one of those Greens?

Last weekend, US Senate Candidate Cecile Lawrence gathered 200 signatures in 5 hours at the Fingerlakes GrassRoots Festival. Join her and the rest of our candidates on the streets, this weekend, representing our Green Movement.

If you haven’t petitioned yet — we need you now! Below we have listed events across NY State where Greens will be out gathering signatures. Join us, team up, and help get the numbers needed to put us on the ballot.

Binghamton

Sat July 31st
9am-1pm Otsiningo Park Farmers Market @ 1 Bevier St

Email to meet up!

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Green Party New York U.S. Senate candidate (vs Kirsten Gillibrand) Cecile Lawrence speaks against hydrofracking in New York State and beyond. Recorded on the Ithaca Commons on Saturday, June 12, 2010.

The Green Party NY candidates Howie Hawkins for Governor and Gloria Mattera for Lt. Governor urged the NYC Charter Commission to include preferential voting – also known as Instant Runoff Voting – for all single member elections.

The Greens also urged the Charter Commission to adopt proportional representation for City Council elections. Proposal representation, the election system used by almost all of the world’s democracies, allocates seats in legislative bodies based on the percentage of votes that each party represents. The Greens said proportional representation would be far more democratic than Bloomberg’s push for non-partisan elections. While the Greens would benefit from non-partisan elections, since the Greens win about a third of the non-partisan elections they enter nationwide, they also said that in NYC it would greatly benefit rich, self-financed candidates like Bloomberg. The three current Green Party Mayors in New York were elected in nonpartisan village elections.

“Despite what we are taught in school, our present system of winner-take-all (plurality) elections actually makes the US once of the least democratic democracies in the world,” said Gloria Mattera, a Park Slope resident who is the Green Party candidate for Lt. Governor.

Continue reading Greens Call for IRV, Proportional Representation Voting for NYC at Howie Hawkins for Governor.

It’s our mission to provide a progressive Green alternative to the corporate agenda of the Democrats and Republicans, and build support for a different world. To that end, we have nominated an exciting slate of candidates for statewide office, including Howie Hawkins for Governor, Gloria Mattera for Lt. Governor, Colia Clark and Cecile Lawrence for US Senate, and Julia Willebrand for Comptroller.

This is the time to regain our ballot status — to do that we need 50,000 votes for Governor. It’s the perfect year, with voters across New York fed up with the corruption in Albany and the pro-corporate bailout, pro-war agenda in DC. They ache to see candidates stand strong for peace, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, single payer-universal health care, and an aggressive program to create living wage jobs.

The first step is to get on the ballot, which means 30,000 signatures from NY State registered voters. Of that 30,000 we need at least 100 signatures from half of the congressional districts across the state.

It’s a lot of work…and it can’t be done without you. It can’t be done without pushing yourself further than perhaps you thought possible. If you’ve turned in 50 or 100 signatures in the past — we need you to hit 150 or 300 this year. It’s time to dedicate this party to making history. Our movement needs your highest commitment, your best effort from July 6 to August 13.

To help collect signatures and/or help coordinate the effort in your community, contact me — Michael ONeil at 917-825-3562 or via e-mail. I will connect you to other Greens in your area and make sure you have all the materials, training, and information you need to petition.

If you do not have a county organization or local to work with, please mail your completed petition sheets to: Michael ONeil, 269 12th St, Brooklyn, NY 11215 Please call if you have any questions regarding your witness statement.

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