[NV Greens] Fwd: [GPCA Updates] GPCA RELEASEs: 1) Flawed Election Law 2) Governor v Pension System

[Paul Etxeberri]

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>** Green Party of California Update **
>
>Our Media Committee has been busy this week! There are two releases in this
>message.
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>News Advisory
>THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA    www.cagreens.org
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>Thursday, April 7, 2005
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>
>Senate committee passes bill to protect
>‘voter intent'; Green Party congressional
>candidate praises ‘common sense' measure
>
>SACRAMENTO (April 7, 2005) – Legislation to correct a faulty state law that
>robbed a potential Green Party congressional candidate of a chance to
>challenge Rep. Nancy Pelosi in a heavily-progressive San Francisco district
>last year passed the Senate elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional
>Amendments Committee Wednesday on a 4-2 vote.
>
>SB 1050, authored by Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, ensures write-in
>votes would count even if voters failed to fill in a "bubble," a technical
>requirement which helps machines tabulate votes.
>
>The current law ignores "voter intent" by invalidating write-in votes even
>though voters make their desire known by physically writing in the name of
>the candidate.
>
>Terry Baum lost hundreds of votes in the primary election in March of 2004.
>Although voting officials acknowledged Baum had enough write-in votes to
>win the Green Party nomination they were required to thrown them out
>because current law mandated write-in votes "shall" not be counted if the
>bubble is not filled-in.
>
>In yet another highly-publicized case last year, thousands of votes for a
>write-in candidate for San Diego mayor were thrown out because although
>voters wrote in the candidate's name, they failed to darken the oval next
>to the candidate's name.
>
>"This bill brings some common sense into election law. It's ludicrous for
>election workers to be forced to ignore write-in votes where the voters'
>intent is crystal clear," said Baum. She was expected – had she won the
>disputed primary nomination – to put up a good fight against Pelosi last
>November because the district is very progressive and "Green."
>
>"Hundreds of voters made their made clear their intent to vote for me by
>physically writing in my name. The fact that they did not fill in an arrow
>does not and should not invalidate their voting rights," added Baum.
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>News Advisory
>THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA    www.cagreens.org
>
>URGENT NEWS ADVISORY
>Thursday, April 7, 2005
>                  
>
>Green Party says governor really only
>half right in surprise decision to drop plan
>to privatize public employee pension system
>
>SACRAMENTO (April 7, 2005) – The Green Party of California – commenting on
>Gov. Schwarzenegger's surprise announcement Thursday to drop a plan to
>privatize California's public employee pension system – said the governor
>is really only half right.
>
>"Our local police and firefighters were very concerned, and correctly so,
>about the Governor's ill-conceived privatization of their pensions," said
>Santa Monica City Council Member Kevin McKeown.
>
>Many, including the Attorney General and the police and fire chiefs and
>survivors of firefighters and police officers killed in the line of duty,
>have cautioned the governor that the suggested initiative ballot language
>could result in employees losing death and disability payments
>
>"Now if only we can convince the Governor that our teachers and nurses are
>local heroes, like our public safety officers, and their jobs deserve
>protection, too," added McKeown, a Green Party of California spokesperson.
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>
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand