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.
I know that many of you are disgusted with many of the stances that the major party presidential candidates have taken on countless issues. Whether it’s their continued voting to waste ever increasing amounts of our precious tax dollars on pointless and failed wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan; their lack of support for ending these conflicts and beginning the prompt removal of all of our troops, military contractors, military bases, known and secret prisons within a couple weeks of becoming president; their non- interest in decreasing our bloated military budget (they instead want to increase it by adding more troops and weapons) and instead promoting peace based on social, legal and economic justice for the poor and vulnerable people in the war zones around the world; or their refusal to take strong steps to reduce the large contributions the U.S. makes to global warming and instead to greatly and only support totally clean and renewable sources of energy like solar and wind and not the fraudulent and harmful clean coal schemes or the dangerous, highly expensive and toxic nuclear power plants--only the organized actions of progressives like us can stop them. The Democratic and Republican presidential nominees also have not made promises to reverse, nor have they strongly denounced the deterioration of our civil liberties that has occurred over the last 7 years as a result of illegal wiretapping and legislation such as the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Neither McCain nor Obama have vowed to stop supporting new free trade agreements or eliminate the ones we currently have that have been detrimental to the environment as well as to the rights and welfare of workers within and outside of the United States. And lastly, though I could go on with many other examples of how their current policy proposals and past senatorial votes have been antithetical to much of what we as Greens stand for, please remember that both are against universal single-payer health care despite the fact that a majority of Americans are for it, that it would reduce government and business expenses, reduce the financial burden on and improve the health of millions of Americans and help revitalize the U.S. economy.
So if we want a better choice to vote for in November and a candidate whose past record and future goals we mostly or entirely approve of instead of a less evil option, then we need to do some work over the next eight weeks. The work I'm talking about is not strenuous. It is interesting and at times fun. What I'm suggesting is that each of you obtain at least one nomination paper (petition) from me and commit yourself to obtaining at least 10 valid signatures from registered Pennsylvania voters. A few members of the Delaware County Green Party have already begun collecting signatures toward the effort of obtaining a Green Party ballot line across the state onto which the Green Party Presidential nominee would be listed in the November 2008 general election. But it is most likely we will not be successful in obtaining the 1900 signatures that the state Green Party expects the Delaware County Greens to produce unless we get significantly more help. Thus the reason for my current urgent appeal for anyone to contact me: Jocolyn Bowser-Bostick (Delco Greens petition coordinator) at this e-mail address--jbowserb(at)yahoo(dot)com or (610)662- 4502 and give me his/her mailing address and I will at your request send you one or more nomination papers and the following printed instructions. If you are requesting one nomination paper please mail it back to me within five weeks of receiving it and if you are requesting two or more nomination papers please mail them back to me by July 28, as they have to be in the state party's possession by August 1.
The following is a summary of the important details to remember or actions to take in collecting valid signatures.
1. You as the collector of the signatures on the nominating paper must be a registered voter (defined as a qualified elector on the nominating paper) in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
2. Before you start collecting signatures on any nominating paper be sure to fill in the name of the county in which all the signers who sign that particular paper must live in order for his or her signature to be valid.
3. You should briefly inform each potential signer who you are and why you are collecting signatures and that you can only accept signatures from registered voters.
4. Inquire which Pennsylvania county the potential signer lives in before you let him/her begin to sign. If the potential signer does not live in the county that you have listed on line 2 of section A then he or she can not sign that particular nominating paper.
5. If you believe you will be encountering many voters that reside in one of two possible counties or you will be going into different counties to collect signatures please request enough nominating papers so that you can accommodate the voters of more than one county.
6. Each signer must fill in his or her information in blue or black ink by his or her own hand (no spouse, friend or other relative can do it for him or her). Additionally each signer must fill in all the information in the order as listed on the form and it must be on the same line. If the signer makes a mistake that can not be corrected with clarity, then that line should be crossed out and the signer should start over again on a new line. You can explain that the state elections bureau is very particular and you want his/her signing to withstand any legal challenges.
7. Keep an eye on the signers and talk them through the fields as they are about to complete them in order to avoid mistakes. Inform each signer that the first block requires his/her full first and last name signature and in the second block he/she should print completely his/her first and last names. Remind the signer to give his or her name as closely as possible as to what is on file in his/her voter registration record. The city, borough, or township in which the signer lives and writes on the petition should be the same one as printed on his/her voter registration card.
8. By signing, signers are simply saying that they want to enable the Green Party to list its presidential nominee and any potential Pennsylvania statewide candidates on the general election ballot this November.
9. When you have gotten all the signatures you are going to collect on a given nominating paper, you must get that particular nominating paper notarized by a Notary Public. The Notary must use the "box" rectangle ink stamp. A notarization with an impress is NOT sufficient. If you have an account at a bank or other financial institution which has its own notary public you may be able to get your nominating paper notarized there for free, otherwise it will cost you a few dollars.
10. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call me (Jocolyn) at jbowserb(at)yahoo(dot)com, 610-662-4502 or the main number (610-543-8427) of the Delaware County Green Party.
Thank you,
Jocolyn
Petition Coordinator
Delaware County Green Party
