November 25, 2016 – The Baltimore Green Party believes every vote should be counted. Accuracy of the final tally, however, is only one of many deficiencies in US elections.

• The Green Party is required to gather tens of thousands of signatures every four years in order to stay on the ballot, while the two corporate-funded parties automatically qualify.
  
  
• Greens are not allowed to vote in judicial races in Maryland, which are restricted to registered Democrats and Republicans.
  
  
• Greens have to pay for their own primary, unlike the two corporate-funded parties whose primaries are paid for by taxpayers.
  
  
• Green Party candidates are often excluded from forums and debates and the media gives disproportionate free coverage to the two corporate-funded parties.

Voters do not get to hear Green Party views because of these obstacles and often do not know alternatives exist and have candidates on the ballot. We are also mindful that under Governor Martin O’Malley in Maryland, both Democrats and Republicans disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of our neighbors through zero tolerance policing, the failed war on drugs, and mass incarceration.

The Baltimore Green Party is energized by the inspiring activism that lead to their re-enfranchisement this year. And the BGP is honored to have won the votes of returning citizens, immigrants, union members, public housing residents, elders, young people, and many more who have been taken for granted by the Democratic machine in Baltimore.

Regardless of what happens with the recounts in Pennsylvania and the Midwest, we will continue building in all Baltimore neighborhoods and and communities resisting the oppressive policies favored by both Clinton and Trump. We stand united with the Baltimore organizations and organizers who are redoubling their commitments to social justice regardless of which of the corporate-funded candidates becomes president. If you are doing the work, know that you have an ally in the Baltimore Green Party.