On September 30th Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's Office released a "Governors Joint Statement" signed by Northam and 10 other Democratic governors, purporting to affirm that they "do not take for granted the sacred right of every American to cast a vote, and to have that vote counted.” (1) They further affirmed that they had a "solemn duty" to ensure the integrity of our democratic processes. But in reality, there is a significant disconnect between these governors' fine words and the actions of the Democratic Party in this election.
While painting Trump as opposed to genuine democracy, these same Democratic Party leaders have worked the courts and used the powers of their offices to deny “the sacred right to cast a vote, and to have that vote counted” for voters that support the Green Party in VA and at least four other states this election. They have done this by placing undue and insurmountable burdens on the ballot access process for parties outside the Democrat/Republican duopoly, and even by filing suit in court to get the Green Party candidate removed from the ballot in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. (2-6)
In Virginia, Governor Northam didn't even reply to our formal petition to provide ballot access waiver knowing that the ballot petitioning requirements placed on non-duopoly parties ensured that his own Safer At Home social-distancing and public health orders would have to be violated to obtain the required signatures. (7) His Board of Elections even argued in court against the need for any protection for Virginia's citizens from COVID-19 to ensure they could have a full slate of candidates on the ballot in November without further spreading the disease by physically petitioning. (8)
In view of the Democratic Party's actions to suppress voting rights for everyone except their own voters, the claim of these Democratic governors that they are committed to democracy is revealed as hypocritical and self-serving. The real goal of both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party is to maintain a lock on the American political process, denying the American people the right and the opportunity to vote for the kind of government they want.
Green Party of Virginia Co-Chair Tina Rockett stated, “For nearly two decades the GPVA achieved ballot access in spite of unreasonable and arbitrary ballot access laws in Virginia. As a result of voter suppression by Governor Northam and the courts in VA on top of the complications of a pandemic, the Green Party has been forced to move to a write-in campaign for our presidential candidate. Virginians can still vote their values for the only corporate-free presidential choice and build power nationally by writing in Howie Hawkins for president.“
The Green Party of Virginia calls on Governor Northam and the General Assembly in future elections to lower barriers to ballot access in Virginia, and to work for and not against the right of the people to choose representatives who represent the people and not the powerful.
To learn how to write-in Howie Hawkins, please follow these links and share: Video on How To Write-in Howie Hawkins in Virginia | Green Party of Virginia; How to Write in Howie Hawkins for President in Virginia.
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Links:
1) https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/all-releases/2020/september/h...
5) Ballot Access | Howie Hawkins for President | Angela Walker for Vice President
7) https://vagreenparty.org/article/appeal-waiver-ballot-access-petitioning...
