Secretary of Commonwealth fails to act on Green-Rainbow Party complaint

Created by eli_beckerman. Last modified on 2008-02-04 16:39:16

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 1, 2008, 4:45PM

CONTACTS: GRP Co-chairs Nat Fortune (413-665-6739) and Merelice (617-277-1757)

GRP Comm. Director Eli Beckerman, communications.director@green-rainbow.org

Secretary of Commonwealth fails to act on Green-Rainbow Party complaint. Party seeks corrective press release and equal treatment on election day.

The Green-Rainbow Party's formal complaint to the Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, seeking simple remedies for being sidelined in Galvin's publicity for the February 5 primary, will not be acted upon before the primary, the Party learned today.

In its January 24 complaint, the Party sought to redress unequal treatment in television PSAs, in which Secretary Galvin encouraged eligible voters to participate in Tuesday's presidential primary, reminding unenrolled voters that they can now choose either a Republican or Democratic ballot without changing their independent status. The Green-Rainbow Party co-chairs pointed out that Galvin neglected to mention the availability of the Green-Rainbow ballot, which has a contested presidential primary. The PSA also neglected to mention the availability of Working Families Party ballots. The co-chairs asked for a response by Monday, January 28, but have not yet received word of planned remediation.

Responding to a call from The Recorder (Greenfield, MA), a spokeswoman for Galvin's office, Nancy Driscoll, stated, "The letter is being reviewed, and we will respond to the letter. Right now we're focused on the election."

"At this late date, the immediate focus of the Secretary's Office should be a corrective press release, highlighting the Party's participation in the Primary," urged Merelice, female co-chair of the Green-Rainbow Party. "This should be followed by a diligent effort on election day and night to give equal treatment to voting results from the Green-Rainbow Primary."

"We know that Secretary Galvin took an oath to dispense the duties of his office impartially," said Nat Fortune, male co-chair of the Party. "We asked for simple remedies that would correctly inform Massachusetts voters of all of their choices. Unfortunately it appears that Secretary Galvin plans to respond once it will no longer matter --- if at all."

"Since media coverage has often left out Green-Rainbow Party information," explained Merelice, "we are still looking for copies of press announcements from the Secretary's office that provided primary day information to the media."

"We have exciting and capable presidential candidates," asserted Fortune, "and the voters of Massachusetts have an equal right to know about and vote for them. It is disgraceful that Secretary Galvin will not even attempt to ensure that all voters are equally informed by his office."