The Green Party of Delaware County, Pennsylvania is committed to fostering progressive policies locally and supporting the efforts of Greens in neighboring counties, throughout the state and the nation. We endorse the Ten Key Values as ratified at the Green Party Convention in Denver, CO, June 2000 and the notion that democracy requires full participation on the part of the citizenry.
We invite anyone who shares our concern about the corrosive effect of corporate money on society and the political process, who seeks to protect our environment from careless development and harmful technologies, who wishes to help create a more just society and who recognizes the importance of solidarity in the face of concentrated power and wealth to join with us as we instill these values at the grass roots and beyond.
2005 Delaware County Green Party brochure for color printing, PDF format
2005 Delaware County Green Party brochure for black and white printing, PDF format
Here is the text of the brochure in simple HTML format:
The Green Party is a real political party that you can register for, vote for, and run for. Most importantly, it's a grassroots party that you can work with and become a leader in.
Some people mistakenly think that the Green Party is an environmentalist group. In fact, it is a political party based on ten key values: social justice, grassroots democracy, non-violence, ecological wisdom, decentralization, community-based economics, feminism, respect for diversity, personal and global responsibility, and future focus. If you like the sound of these values or are willing to give them a chance but want to know more, why not come to a meeting, email us, or learn more on the web?
The Democratic and Republican Parties have increasingly become parties driven by big money, not by the grassroots. The values that once inspired these parties are needles in a haystack of corporate dollars.
The Green Party is very small but growing rapidly. There are 210 Green office holders in the US, including city council members of major cities and a number of mayors. The Green Party did not even exist in Delaware County in 2000, in 2001 there were 23 registered Greens, and in 2004 there were 596.
What is democracy worth if you can't vote for candidates you know and whose values you respect? Unfortunately, the current winner-take-all two-party system encourages people to vote not for their actual choice, but the major party candidate they hate the least! If you vote for your first choice, you may wind up "spoiling" the election for your second choice.
The Green Party supports an electoral reform called Instant Runoff Voting that will fix this problem. IRV eliminates the spoiler effect by letting voters rank their preferences, requiring a majority to win (unlike the current system, where the winner often doesn't have a majority mandate), and effectively carrying out run-offs automatically. It is an easy way to strengthen our democracy and make voting more honest and accurate. All voters owe it to themselves to ask their government representatives why we don't have IRV.
IRV is a very small change. Greens also support Proportional Representation, which would mean that if your party gets 30% of the vote, it would receive 30% of the City Council and school board seats. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? In many municipalities in Delaware County, the second-largest party, even if 30% of the voters support it, doesn't have any role in the government at all. That doesn't sound like democracy, does it?
Registering Green indicates your support for the party whose values you respect. Beyond the symbolic value, registering Green has two real-world effects: 1) when 15% of the voters in Pennsylvania are registered Green, the Green Party legally becomes a major party, with various legal advantages such as automatic ballot access; 2) you cannot vote in major party primary elections while registered Green.
You can register as a Green Party voter in any county in Pennsylvania. If you are not currently registered to vote, get a voter registration form from your county voter registration office. If the party registration box does not contain a check box for the Green Party, your county is using an outdated form; write in "Green" on the "other" line and make sure your county officials know that you should be record as a member of the Green Party.
If you are already registered to vote, and you wish to switch parties, use the usual voter registration form, but in Box A, check "change of party".
Calling all elected officials and potential candidates! In many municipalities, the major parties offer little in terms of networking and issue leadership to their local elected officials. Why not join the party whose values you share? Active Green organizations across Pennsylvania are working to revitalize democracy in our cities, boroughs, and townships.
One by one, we are building a vibrant group of Green office holders in Pennsylvania -- local officials who care about ecology, justice, and democracy in their communities. Consider joining us.
One of the things that makes America great is choice and competition, but we don't have that in one of the most important and expensive services that we purchase -- our government. We have dozens of cereals to choose from at the store, but we effectively have just two, and often just one, choice when we vote. Let's give us, the voters, something else to chew on, and keep our leaders honest.
Come to our monthly meeting! We meet the first Tuesday of every month in Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081. Why sit at home watching TV? Bring your ideas and energy to the long-term effort to improve our government, our society, and ourselves.
Directions by public transit:
Take SEPTA's R3 Regional Rail Line to the Swarthmore station, which is located in downtown Swarthmore. Borough Hall is only 2 minutes' walk from the station, down Park Ave. The 109 bus also passes just a block away on Chester Rd (Rt. 320).
Directions by car:
Swarthmore is conveniently located, accessible by Rt. 320 (Chester Rd.) from the north and south.
Take I-476 to Exit 3 to Baltimore Pike toward Springfield and Swarthmore.
Turn right from Baltimore onto Rt. 320 South.
Follow 320 South into Swarthmore.
Make a left U-turn immediately after the tracks and a right at the stop sign. Borough Hall is visible ahead, with a parking lot in front. Please feel free to call for more information.
Green Party of Delaware County
P.O. Box 309
Swarthmore, PA 19081
Tel: (610) 543-8427
Email: 
Web: www.delcogreens.org
