• Greens blast Dems' "Defenders of Democracy" pose and frivolous Dem lawsuits to kick Jill Stein off the ballot, citing suits rejected by courts in Wisconsin and Nevada

• Videos of Dr. Stein's acceptance speech and more at the 2024 Green Convention

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders challenged Democrats to end their attempts in 2024 and the future to remove Green and other alternative-party and independent candidates from state ballots, and instead work to enact ranked-choice voting (RCV).

For immediate release
Thursday, August 29, 2024

Contacts:
Gloria Mattera, Green Party Media Committee Coordinator, 202-804-2758, [email protected]
Scott McLarty, Green Party Media Director, 202-878-2112, [email protected]

Wisconsin's state Supreme Court — dominated by Democratic judges — recognized that the Democratic National Committee's lawsuit to cancel Green presidential nominee Jill Stein's ballot line was baseless and threw it out on August 26. Dr. Stein and running mate Butch Ware were nominated by the Green Party on August 17.

A court in Nevada rejected a similar frivolous lawsuit by Democrats to deny Dr. Stein's ballot line in the state. The effect of such suits is to drain the time and financial resources of state Green Parties and Green candidates when they defend their ballot lines.

RCV allows voters to rank their top three preferences in order and enables the candidate with the most popular support to win. It eliminates the alleged spoiler factor, making elections more welcoming to alternative-party and independent candidates.

The states of Maine and Alaska and several cities use RCV in elections. For more information about RCV and how it works, visit https://fairvote.org/our-reforms/ranked-choice-voting.

Quotes from Greens

Chester Todd, Wisconsin Green Party candidate for the US House, 1st District (https://chestertodd.org): "The Democratic Party's refusal to support RCV while they accuse Green candidates of spoiling tells us that Dems would rather lose to the GOP than tolerate multi-party elections."

Charles Ostdiek, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States: "If Democrats want voters to take them seriously as defenders of democracy against very real threats from Trump and the GOP, they should stop trying to kick Green candidates off the ballot and smearing Jill Stein. Until the Democratic Party plays fair and endorses ranked-choice voting, it's clear they're only concerned about democracy when their own interests are at stake."

Jill Ferguson, Wisconsin Green Party candidate for Governor in the 2026 election (https://jillforgovernor.com): "Democratic Party leaders reject RCV because they want to keep the political field limited to two parties, while Republicans are terrified of voting majorities determining the outcome of elections. Both major parties want to banish the ideas that the Green Party brings to the public debate — like the Green New Deal, single-payer health care, deep cuts in the military budget, and cancelling US support for Israel's genocide in Gaza."

Craig Cayetano, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States: "If we want truly democratic elections, we need to replace winner-take-all and at-large elections and the Electoral College with RCV, proportional representation, and the popular vote in presidential elections. We need to overturn unfair state ballot-access rules designed by Democratic and Republican legislators and power brokers like former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo that privilege their own candidates and hinder alternative parties and independents.

"We also need to repeal Citizens United and other Supreme Court rulings that have allowed dark money, corporate PAC money, and the flood of unlimited contributions from the wealthy to turn the US into an oligarchy. The Green Party and Green candidates reject such contributions."

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-804-2758