For more information:
Howie Hawkins, howie@howiehawkins.us, 315-425-1019
Andrea Merida, Campaign Manager, andrea@howiehawkins.us, 303-550-0677

Blasts Both Major Parties for Playing Games with Right to Vote

(Syracuse, NY – September 12, 2020)  Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins blasted both major parties in Wisconsin Saturday morning for holding up the printing and mailing of absentee ballots in Wisconsin.

“The Wisconsin Supreme Court should put the Green presidential ticket on the ballot immediately because we have met all the requirements for ballot placement. The court has all the information it needs to make a decision,” Hawkins said.

“The Republican-majority court could end this delay right now by making a ruling. The Democrats could end the delay right now by dropping their bogus objections to our placement on the ballot,” Hawkins added.

“But at this late juncture,” Hawkins continued, “it’s time for us to offer a solution for the good of the voters of Wisconsin. Our Green Party ticket must be added to the ballot.  We propose that every person who requested an absentee ballot receive one with Hawkins/Walker listed as a choice, and that those voters who may have already received absentee ballots are also sent a ballot with the Green presidential ticket on it. If a voter sends back the defective ballot, their vote should be counted if they do not send back the second ballot.  Voters should not be punished for an over-vote.”

Hawkins blasted both parties for playing partisan games with the right to vote in Wisconsin. “The Democrats and Republicans are using the Greens as pawns on their political chessboard for their own partisan purposes. Both are putting the right to vote in Wisconsin at risk.”

“What kind of democracy do we have when the two governing parties administer their own elections? Every vote on this case at every level, from the Wisconsin Election Commission to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, has been strictly partisan. It’s disgusting. It shows why we need elections administered by independent civil servants, not partisan hacks,” Hawkins said.

The case resolves around whether Hawkins’ vice presidential running mate, Angela Walker, properly informed the Wisconsin Elections Commission of her address. Walker moved to another apartment in her current home town of Florence, South Carolina during the petitioning period.

The commission staff said that well over 3,000 signatures were from qualified voters. The petition needed 2,000 qualified signatures to place Hawkins and Walker on Wisconsin ballots.

Democrats filed objections to the petition on the grounds that Walker did not properly give her address to the commission. The Hawkins/Walker campaign informed the Wisconsin Elections Commission when the change of address occurred and followed its instructions on how to record Walker’s address on petitions before and after the move. Walker filed a notarized Declaration of Candidacy with her current address along with the petitions.

Walker is a Milwaukee native who was a well-known activist when she lived in Wisconsin. As a public transit bus driver in Milwaukee, she mobilized her local union, Amalgamated Transit Union 998, to participate in the Wisconsin Uprising in 2011. She became her local union’s legislative director at that time. In 2014, she received 20% of the vote running as an independent socialist for Sheriff of Milwaukee County against the conservative Democratic incumbent, David Walker.

Walker, who is African American, said, “The Democrats are hypocrites. They say they are for the right of Black people to vote. But they don’t want Black people to run against them.”

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