Have you checked the Green Party page at
http://www.therealdifference.org/issues2.html

> Electoral Reforms & Democracy
>
> (More information: www.fairvote.org)


The direct you to FairVote.org - so does this mean that the Green Party
has adopted the entire FairVote election reform and democracy agenda, or
that FairVote is in bed with the Greens? How can FairVote be
considered non-partisan if they are so closely aligned with the Greens?

Of course the interesting thing is that the grassroots of the Democratic
Party in NC pretty much supports all the things that the Greens support.

Under Electoral Reforms and Democracy, the Greens:

>
> Call for major democratic reforms to strengthen citizen participation
> and minority representation, including proportional representation,
> instant run-off voting, monitoring of elections, and public financing
> of campaigns.

Grassroots Dems call for major reforms to strengthen citizen
participation and minority representation. In NC, we support Same Day
Registration at Early Voting, and we call for paper ballots and election
transparency. We have a great public campaign financing pilot we are
trying to expand. By roughly two to one at the last state convention,
Dems didn't feel that PR or IRVwas really all that democratic - most
feel that lowering ballot access requirements and fusion voting would
increase 3rd party participation in the election process without going
to the trouble of using the complex IRV method.

Under Real Campaign Finance Reform & Publicly Financed Elections, the
Greens support:

> Green candidates rely on small contributors and run their campaigns
> with the help and hard work of thousands of grassroots volunteers
> around the country.
>
> Demand fully-funded, publicly financed elections with free air-time,
> reasonable ballot access, and debates that are open to all legitimate
> candidates.

The Grassroots Dems in NC who got into the party after being Deaniacs in
2003-2004 believe in the same things listed above. And we also
supported looking into the Florida election debacle.

The problem is, the elected government officials don't support those
things, and the party officers elected with the support of the elected
government officials (who are supported by the lobbyists) don't support
those things either. It infuriates grassroots Dems who work to pass
resolutions in support of more democratic election reforms only to have
our party leaders ignore the collective will of the Party and then have
the legislators do the exact opposite. There are still some party
officers and elected leaders who don't believe there was any funny
business in Florida. They claim their friends who work in the party at
the national level have assured them nothing happened. They don't
understand that are people who have a vested interest in keeping
elections "game-able" - just that they want their party to be able to
control the gaming. Rank and file grassroots Dems and even Republicans
that I know don't want elections gamed - they want them honest so we can
trust the results of the elections.

The NC Greens are very supportive of IRV. Elena Everett - past
chair/president of the NC Green Party - worked for FairVoteNC pushing
IRV in NC. She had one hell of an advantage - her father-in-law Dr.
John Gilbert is (or was) the Chair of the Wake County Board of Elections
and was one of the biggest boosters of IRV in the state. The NC Greens
went on record as stating that Dr. Gilbert would help the Greens educate
people about IRV.

I was thinking about attending the Green Party convention later this
month. But since I am already getting some weird e-mail from people who
I think are affiliated with the Green Party about my views opposing IRV,
I might want to pass on attending what I feel will be an IRV love-fest.
I don't want to be pushed up against the wall and have the kool-aid
forced down my throat - figuratively speaking of course ;-)

Chris Telesca
Wake County Verified Voting



Dale Sheldon wrote:
>
>
> On Mon, 6 Jul 2009, Chris Telesca wrote:
>
> > I wonder how FairyTaleVote can claim to be non-partisan when they
> are so
> > closely aligned to the Green Party?
>
> ...which is a ridiculous stance for the Green Party.
>
> I gave a presentation to my local county Green Party, and they all seemed
> very interested in what I had to say about score voting.
>
> (This blogpost is basically the same as the presentaiton I gave:
> http://leastevil.blogspot.com/2009/06/presented.html
> <http://leastevil.blogspot.com/2009/06/presented.html>
>
> They liked it so much that they suggested that I attend the national
> meeting in Durham, North Carolina (July 23-26) and make the same
> presentation there; but I just don't think I have the time.
>
> The local Greens suggested that the party isn't that strongly behind IRV,
> but just the southern California Greens are, and no one else has ever
> bothered to put forward an alternate option.
>
> --
> Dale Sheldon
> dales@... <mailto:dales%40digitalfreaks.org>
>
>