Victories for McKinney, Nader in four Green primaries on Super Tuesday

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

Results by state for Green primaries in Arkansas, California, and Illinois; Massachusetts results forthcoming

Widespread voting irregularities hinder Greens in Illinois

WASHINGTON, DC -- Results from the four states where Green Parties participated in the February 5 Super Tuesday primaries show a landslide for Ralph Nader in California (61%) and a lead among candidates for Cynthia McKinney in Arkansas and Illinois.

The office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, responding to an inquiry, said that his state doesn't post unofficial results, and will not announce the numbers until absentee and overseas ballots are counted. Some early returns from Boston and a few other cities show a near tie for Mr. Nader and Ms. McKinney, with Mr. Nader slightly ahead by a few votes, but too inconclusive to call.

Ms. McKinney, a former Democratic US Representative from Georgia (now a Green), won the Illinois primary with a strong lead (57%).

The Arkansas results currently show that over half (nearly 54%) of the state's Green voters decided to remain uncommitted. Arkansas' totals have been delayed because of power outages after severe storms and tornadoes Tuesday evening while voting was still going on.

Mr. Nader has not declared his candidacy, but recently announced the formation of an exploratory committee for a possible presidential run <http://www.naderexplore08.org>.

The Illinois Green Party is currently fielding reports of voting irregularities in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois, with Green voters told by pollworkers on Tuesday that no Green Party ballots were available at their polling places, or that they had to vote on suspect electronic voting machines, even while other parties used paper ballots. More information: http://www.gp.org/press/pr-state.php?ID=21

After the Super Tuesday primaries, Green candidates will compete in the February 12 primary in the District of Columbia. Currently, 21 state Green Parties hold ballot access within their respective states. Some Green Parties chose presidential candidates by caucus voting and by election of national convention delegates at state party conventions.

The Green Party will hold its 2008 national convention in Chicago from July 10 to 13.


SUPER TUESDAY PRIMARY RESULTS (as of Wednesday, February 6)

ARKANSAS (8 delegates out of 836 delegates at the Green National Convention)
Polling Locations Reporting: 893 of 2081 (43%)
Last Update: February 6, 2:47 pm
http://www.arelections.org/index.php?ac:show:contest_statewide=1&elecid=151&contestid=3

Jared Ball, 55 votes, 10.24% *
Cynthia McKinney, 117 votes, 21.79%
Kent Mesplay, 49 votes, 9.12%
Kat Swift, 27 votes, 5.03%
Uncommitted, 289 votes, 53.82%

Green Party of Arkansas: http://arkgreens.kk5.org/
Media contacts:
Jim Lendall, Public Relations Co-chair, jelendall@comcast.net
Rebekah Kennedy, Elections Co-chair, misskennedyesq@yahoo.com

CALIFORNIA (168 delegates out of 836 delegates at the Green National Convention)
95.4% (22055 of 23109) precincts reporting as of February 6, at 7:15 am
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/Returns/pres/grn/all.htm

Kent Mesplay, 562 votes, 2.0%
Jared Ball, 443 votes, 1.6% *
Jesse Johnson, 506 votes, 1.8%
Kat Swift, 842 votes, 3.0%
Ralph Nader, 16,792 votes, 61.1% **
Elaine Brown, 1,256 votes, 4.6% *
Cynthia McKinney, 7,110 votes, 25.9%

Green Party of California: http://www.cagreens.org/
Media contact:
Crescenzo Vellucci, Party Press Secretary, 916-996-9170, greenparty-press@comcast.net

ILLINOIS (44 delegates out of 836 delegates at the Green National Convention)
11264 of 11574 precincts Reporting - 97%
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2008/by_state/IL_President_0205.html?SITE=ILCHTELN&SECTION=POLITICS
Cynthia McKinney, 1,446 votes, 57%
Howie Hawkins, 438 votes, 17% **
Kent Mesplay, 369 votes, 14%
Jared Ball, 302 votes, 12% *

Illinois Green Party: http://www.ilgp.org
Media contacts:
Patrick Kelly, Media Coordinator, 773-203-9631, media@ilgp.org
Phil Huckelberry, Chair, Government & Elections Committee, 309-268-9974, phil.huckelberry@ilgp.org

MASSACHUSETTS (32 delegates out of 836 delegates at the Green National Convention)
Official results not posted yet by the state:
check later at http://www.gp.org
Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts: http://www.massgreens.org/
Media contact:
Eli Beckerman, Communications Director, 617-821-1453, communications.director@green-rainbow.org

* Although their names remain on the ballot in some states, Dr. Ball and Ms. Brown have withdrawn from the Green presidential race.

** Mr. Hawkins is serving as a placeholder candidate on the ballot for Mr. Nader in some states until Mr. Nader announces his intentions for the 2008 election; in other states, Mr. Nader is on the ballot.


WEB SITES for Green presidential candidates, competing as of February 6:
Jesse Johnson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMxgYnmdHfg
Cynthia McKinney http://www.runcynthiarun.org - http://www.americanblackout.org/
Kent Mesplay http://www.mesplay.org
Howie Hawkins http://www.draftnader.org
Ralph Nader http://www.naderexplore08.org (Exploratory Committee site)
Kat Swift http://www.voteswift.org


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Video of Green presidential candidates
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php

Green candidate database for 2007 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml

Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml

Green Party Speakers Bureau
http://www.gp.org/speakers

Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml


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