The Green Party of New York recognizes the passing of comrade Bruce Dixon of the Georgia Green Party and Black Agenda Report. We ask that you keep Bruce and his family in your thoughts this weekend. Bruce passed just as this conference opened and we decided to keep his planned panels in this guide as a way to express how his contributions will be missed.

Bruce Dixon, Presente!

The 2019 LeftForum will take place this coming weekend, June 28 – 30 at Long Island University in Brooklyn. The forum will take place at One University Plaza, Brooklyn, NY. The full program can be viewed here. This year's theme is "What Is Left To Be Done?"

Once again, many of the workshops will feature Green Party members. Below is list of workshops featuring Green activists and candidates, past and present, with their names in bold.

More than two years after the groundswell demanding recounts in the 2016 election, the fight for election integrity and voting justice is still going strong. To keep you up to date on our work, made possible by the generous support of recount contributors, here are some exciting developments in the continuing struggle on the front lines.

June 13, 2019, New York City — The Green Party of New York (GPNY) said last night's vote on a ballot measure to introduce ranked-choice voting (RCV) for New York City municipal primaries and special elections was disappointing, as commissioners voted 8-6 against applying RCV to general elections. Party officers praised the six commissioners, including Democrat Sal Albanese and Republican Stephen J. Fiala, who made a strong case for RCV in all municipal elections for New York City voters.

Brooklyn, N.Y. – All of your comments and testimony in support of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) have made an enormous difference! The Green Party of Brooklyn (GPBK) Thanks you!

On Wednesday, June 12, the NYC Council Charter Commission votes on which proposals, including RCV, will be included on the November ballot. Your voice is needed once again to make sure the Commission knows how much support there is for RCV!

Ranked-choice voting (RCV) refers to systems where voters rank their choices in order of preference.

The good thing about these systems is that they eliminate the vote-splitting or lesser-evil problem of single-seat, plurality-wins elections like we have in most of the United States.

Now that some Democrats are promoting a Green New Deal — the signature program of the Green Party for the last decade—how should Green Party candidates run on that program in 2020?

Green Party Origins of the Green New Deal by Howie Hawkins

I was the first US candidate to run for office campaigning for a Green New Deal in 2010. As the Green Party candidate for Governor of New York, I called for a Green New Deal of more progressive taxes to fund expanded public spending on public schools, single-payer health care, public housing, and a job-creating emergency program for 100% clean energy by 2020.

Seattle, WA – Cities and towns in Washington could soon have the freedom to choose better elections, thanks to  bills filed in our legislature. HB 1722 and SB 5708 offer local jurisdictions the option to use ranked choice voting (RCV) for elections. 

RCV is engaging voters and invigorating democracy in the 22 cities and counties around the U.S. that have already adopted it for their elections. Under this bill, Washington communities will be able to enjoy these benefits, too.

Albany, NY -- Green Party of New York officers said Gov. Cuomo's State of the State preview was short on everything except Andrew Cuomo's positioning for the 2020 Presidential election. The party leadership said Cuomo's plans on climate change and health care will doom millions of New Yorkers who already suffer from the intensifying climate catastrophe, and from the ongoing health care emergency of nonexistent or expensive, poor insurance. They also stated that Cuomo's proposals for electoral reform needed to include RCV, proportional representation, and full public campaign financing.

Portland, ME – This holiday season, many of us are celebrating our communities and all that we have to be thankful for. We would like to take this opportunity to give our thanks to our candidates for state representative. Our 2018 Maine Green Independent Party nominees did incredible work in promoting our vision and values in their communities.

Here are their vote totals:

Portland, ME – Although we only have 6 candidates on the ballot for this year's primary election, it is of utmost importance that Greens across Maine get out to vote in this Tuesday's election to preserve ranked choice voting.

Our allies at RCV Maine are making one last push to get out the vote on Tuesday, and we ask you to help them to preserve this very important measure to improve democracy in Maine, by volunteering these last few days.