Wednesday, August 27, 2008
La Riva/Puryear campaign on the ballot in 10 states ... with more states to come!
PSL on the ballot in New York!
On August 18, the Party for Socialism and Liberation filed with the state’s Board of Elections in Albany. We met all of the requirements to be on the ballot for the 2008 presidential elections, including submitting 30,000 signatures—twice the required number. We are proud to say that millions of working-class people will be able to vote for a socialist alternative in New York State.
The requirements to be listed on the ballot include submitting 15,000 valid signatures of registered voters, with at least 100 valid signatures in half of the state’s 29 congressional districts. These signatures could not be collected prior to July 8, and were due on August 19.
The first phase of the Party for Socialism and Liberation Presidential Campaign has been a great success. Through a tremendous amount of hard work, we have succeeded in meeting the requirements for ballot status in ten states and are in the process of achieving status in two more.
Our biggest challenge was in New York State. For six weeks, volunteers worked tireless in New York City’s five boroughs and many upstate and Long Island counties to collect the needed signatures and prepare the filing. The army of volunteers sacrificed vacation time, days off, and time with their families to make sure that a powerful voice of socialism and struggle would be on the ballot in November in this key state.
Thousands of people across New York State were excited to hear about a campaign that would speak out loud and strong against the war, racism and police brutality. “For me, getting Gloria and Eugene on the ballot was a great chance to talk to people in my community in the Bronx about the need to fight back,” said petitioner Frances Villar, a student and mother of two.
Leon Williams just graduated from high school in New York City and had not participated in political work before. “My first day petitioning, it seemed I would never get a signature,” he recalled with a smile. “But it was enriching to have so many conversations with people that may never have had a conversation about such ‘taboo’ topics like socialism.”
PSL on the ballot nationwide
We are very excited at the prospect of being able to reach millions of people across the country with the Gloria La Riva/Eugene Puryear campaign theme of “People Over Profits—End the War Now —We Need Socialism!”
In this first-ever campaign by the PSL, our strategy has included gaining ballot status in every major region of the country. We will be on the ballot in New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont in the Northeast; Florida, Arkansas and Louisiana in the South; Iowa and Wisconsin in the Midwest; and Colorado, Utah and Washington in the West.
Over the past few months, we have collected more than 45,000 petition signatures, recruited electors, held state conventions and paid filing fees. Hundreds of volunteers are working around the clock in cities and towns throughout the country.
Join our campaign of struggle
Our campaign will one of struggle. We will carry forward the message that the key to bringing about real progressive change is building a powerful people’s movement that stands together with our sisters and brothers around the world who are resisting imperialism and exploitation.
As capitalism sinks further into its deepest crisis since the Great Depression, it is more important than ever that we explain that there are really only two choices for the future: Continue with a system based on maximizing profits regardless of destruction to people or the planet, or create a new, sustainable system based on meeting people’s needs - socialism.
How many cities, towns and campuses we can travel to, how many people we can reach and bring into the struggle, in short, how successful we can be with the precious few weeks we have until election day, depends largely on you. There are many ways you can help:
PSL activists celebrate the collection of 30,000 signatures in New York state |
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