Greens Back Constitutional Amendment
to Guarantee Right of Political Parties
to Run General Election Candidates

GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release: June 25, 2004

Contacts:
Beth Moore Haines, GPCA Spokesperson, 530-277-0610,
Sara Amir, GPCA Spokesperson, 310-270-7106,

SACRAMENTO – The Green Party of California Friday said it fully supports a constitutional amendment headed for the November ballot which guarantees all political parties would be able to run their own candidates in a general election, while opposing another ballot measure that would limit candidates.

The measure, SCA 18, cleared the Assembly and Senate this week and now will be on the November ballot.

The legislation would negate an initiative on the ballot that would allow only the two top vote getters in the primary to run in November – almost guaranteeing that smaller parties would disappear from the general election ballot because Republicans and Democrats have the highest number of registered voters.

Although it's touted as an "open primary," the initiative effect would be to close the electoral system for smaller parties and limit voters' choices.

"The GPCA supports voters having the broadest ballot choices possible. SCA18 preserves voter choice by guaranteeing that candidates from all ballot-qualified political parties are represented on our ballots in the general election," said Beth Moore Haines, GPCA spokesperson.

"We continue to oppose the so-called ‘Open Primary' initiative, which would artificially limit voters to choosing between just two candidates, possibly forcing voters to choose between two candidates from the same political party, one which may not represent the voter.

"Ideally, voters should be able to rank their choices from among all candidates, as in Instant Runoff Voting. This would lower costs, increase voter participation, and guarantee a majority support for every winning candidate. It works all over the world, and maybe when we get money out of our elections, we'll be allowed to use this democratic system, too," she added.

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The Green Party of California
http://www.cagreens.org
P.O. Box 2828, Sacramento, CA 95812
Phone: (916) 448-3437
gpca@greens.org