The Green Party is accusing Wisconsin Democrats of “committing a crime against democracy” and behaving like an “anti-Democratic party” because the Green Party wasn’t allowed on the Wisconsin ballot for 2020. The Party is now suing to get on the ballot.
The Green Party’s candidates for president, Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker, have retained the law firm of von Briesen & Roper, s.c., “to challenge the Elections Commission’s decision to deny ballot access to the Green Party presidential and vice presidential nominees,” they revealed in a press release issued late on Aug. 31. They accused Democratic Election Commission members in Wisconsin of “committing a crime against democracy by suppressing voter choice.”
Previously, the Wisconsin Election Commission voted not to allow independent candidate Kanye West on the ballot. The exclusion of third-party candidates in a hotly contest battleground state could be very important because of the closeness of Donald Trump’s victory margin in 2016. That time around, Green Party candidate Jill Stein got more votes in Wisconsin (she received 31,000) and Michigan than Trump’s margin of victory, according to The Hill. This time around, the Green Party clearly believes the Democrats are taking no chances.
Why was the Green Party not allowed on the ballot? Because Walker was accused of using two South Carolina addresses. The vote was party line, with Democrats blocking the Party from getting on the ballot. Read the petition to kick the Green Party off the Wisconsin ballot here: Challenge Complaint_Arntsen v. Hawkins(1)
Hawkins said, “Thousands of voters in Wisconsin signed petitions to put us on the ballot and we are suing to protect their right to have choices beyond the two parties funded by the millionaires and billionaires. We are confident that the Wisconsin courts will recognize that our campaign has shown sufficient public support to be placed on the ballot. The Democratic Commission members have committed a crime against democracy by suppressing voter choice.”
Angela Walker, the Green party candidate for vice president, is “a Wisconsin native who ran for office in Milwaukee and worked with Wisconsin unions,” according to the release.
“The Democratic Party is behaving like the anti-Democratic Party by working to keep the Green Party off the ballot. Thousands of voters in Wisconsin reject both former Vice President Joe Biden or President Donald Trump,” she said in the release.
“These voters deserve more choices. Unlike the two corporate parties, we put the interests of the people before corporations, and we put the protection of the planet ahead of protection of big business profits.”
The Election Commission Deadlocked Over Green Party Ballot Access
In an earlier Aug. 22 news release, the Green Party slammed what it called a partisan vote by the Wisconsin Election Commission. That release proclaimed, “Wisconsin Democrats Knock Hawkins/Walker Off Ballot.”
“The ongoing struggle to give voters more choices continues. Yesterday, the Wisconsin Elections Commission in a partisan 3-3 vote refused to put the Green Party presidential ticket of Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker on the ballot,” that release stated.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel previously reported that all Democrats on the Commission voted to deny the Party access, and the Republicans voted to grant it. According to the newspaper, the issue was over whether Walker had listed two different addresses, and a Madison attorney challenged that.
“Thousands of voters in Wisconsin signed petitions to put us on the ballot. The Democratic Commission members have committed a crime against democracy by suppressing voter choice. If there is any justice left in Wisconsin, the judge will put us on the ballot,” said Howie Hawkins, the Green Party presidential nominee.
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