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The Green-Rainbow Party learned the results of its February 5th presidential primary last week, which saw an increase in participation of 81.4% over our first-ever presidential primary in 2004. The Secretary of the Commonwealth released the official primary results, and 1941 voters chose Green-Rainbow Party ballots, compared to 1070 in 2004.
The top vote-getter was Ralph Nader, who has since announced that he is not seeking the Green Party nomination. Mr. Nader received 744 votes, or 39.9% of the 1864 valid votes. Cynthia McKinney, the former Democratic Congresswoman from Georgia, who has quit the Democratic Party and is seeking the Green Party nomination, received 474 votes (25.4%). The “No Preference” option came in third place, with 194 votes (10.4%), followed by Kat Swift with 60 (3.2%), Jared Ball with 42 (2.3%), Kent Mesplay with 39 (2.1%), and Elaine Brown with 38 votes (2.0%). Jared Ball and Elaine Brown have withdrawn their candidacies for the Green Party nomination, with Ball throwing his support to McKinney. Additionally, there were 273 write-in votes (14.6%), which the Secretary’s office has not tabulated. The Green Party of the U.S. will select its presidential candidate at the nominating convention in Chicago that begins on July 10th.
“We were proud to have such a great field of choices on our primary ballot, and we are thrilled that participation in our presidential primary increased so significantly,” said GRP female co-chair Merelice. “This happened despite an advanced timeframe and despite the general white-out of our primary in the media.”
The Green-Rainbow Party — the Massachusetts affiliate of the Green Party of the U.S. — is looking forward to making a name for itself in the politics of the Commonwealth and beyond. With major breakdowns in our social, political, and economic systems, and the environmental crises developing before our eyes, the Green-Rainbow Party is poised to distinguish itself as “a third way.”
“We need to drastically re-prioritize policy decisions towards maximizing the public interest, not corporate profits. The converging crises of global warming, peak oil, and economic globalization require a sea change in policy, or Katrina will be coming for us all,” warned Nat Fortune, male co-chair of the GRP. “We continue to pour money into subsidies that are doing harm, rather than good, and simply neutralizing these policies would be a positive first step.”
Merelice added, “Year after year, we are throwing well over a half trillion dollars into the militarization of our nation and the world, producing nothing but fear and destruction in the name of ‘defense.’ The insanity and inhumanity of bipartisan federal policy demands that we utilize our voice in the national elections, no matter how small a vote we may ultimately win. But we are trying to build an alternative political party from the ground up, committed to justice and sustainability, with common-sense people-powered solutions to our most serious problems. The attention on the presidential elections is in many ways a distraction from those arenas where we can have the most impact – in our neighborhoods and communities across the Commonwealth.”
Filed under: Green Party Websites, Political Websites, presidential race, Press Release
Monkey see, monkey do -_-