Georgia Green Party
Petition Campaign 
for Ballot Access 
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this page updated June 13th , 2000. 
look for our new Nader literature, plus 
Rallies, meetings and events for the Final 21 Days. 
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NEWS FLASH:  
The Nader 2000 Primary Committee has promised $25,000 
to complete our petition drive if we have 20,000 signatures 
in hand Monday morning, June 26th, 2000!  
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Your Help is Needed! 
Join our Ballot Access Team for a Rally 
Athens - 6/20/00 (??) and again in Decatur 6/21/00 
Set Aside June 24-25 and July 1st, 2nd and 4th
We Can Put Nader on the Ballot at 
Pride Weekend (300,000 in Piedmont Park)  and 
Independence Day Weekend (500,000 at Stone Mountain) 
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Please check out our: 
Ballot Access Petition Drive Progress Report (wip) 
graph and statistics on ballot access drive. 
Calendar of Petitioning Opportunities!
Bookmark this page and check here often! 
Ballot Access Petition Drive Volunteers' Listserve
Subscribe to the list, access the archives or change to a daily digest. 
Locate the Petition Drive Coordinator in your Community!
Get petitions and stay in the loop on local signature gathering opportunities. 
Volunteer Referral Form (2 per page) and (7 per page) 
Use these to identify, report and activate new Green Party Volunteers. 
Nomination Petition for Presidential Electors of the Georgia Green Party .pdf
-- Please correct date to reflect the November 7th, 2000 Election. 
-- Must be printed front and back on LEGAL size paper. 
How to Collect Valid Signatures and Put Green Candidates on the Ballot .pdf
Your Constitutional Rights .pdf  (please read disclaimer here) 
Nader 2000 Campaign Literature:  Clipboard Cover Page  *  Biography  *  Why Nader?
Nader on HMOs  *  Nader Qtr Sheet  *   Comparison Nader-Gore-Bush
If you are looking for a job, read this deal memo and write our Canvas Director.  
Get a free copy of Acrobat Reader!
If you're working events along our borders, please help our neighboring Green Parties: 
South Carolina - petition, instructions; North Carolina - petition, instructions; 
Tennessee - petition, instruction; Alabama - petition, instructions; 
Florida has ballot access
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Also check out our Campaign to Democratize the Ballot Access Process
Voter Choice Act Frequently Asked Questions
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It takes alot of people to Party.  No where is this more true than in the very process of putting a new  Party on the ballot. 
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Under state law, we must file a nominating petition with 39,113  valid signatures to place our Presidential Slate on the 2000 General Election ballot.  If we don't succeed in achieving ballot access, we're left with running our candidates as write-ins -- not at all a happy prospect. 
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An experienced petition circulator can gather 12-25 signatures an hour in a crowded public space.  At an average of 15 signatures per hour, that translates into over 2,600 hours of petition circulating.  Another way to think about it would be as a crew of ten people working five, six-hour days each week for almost nine weeks. 
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But experience has shown that half of the signatures submitted in a ballot access petition drive are struck from the petition as invalid.  Its possible to challenge invalidated signatures, if you have a team of attorneys and a team of volunteers to do the tedious paperwork in a short time period, when you would rather they be campaigning for your candidates.  It is easier to just collect twice as many signatures as you really need. 
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So a crew of ten circulators could put a Presidential Slate on the ballot in only eighteen weeks, if they are constantly in crowds doing the work. 
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Obviously, this is a big task for volunteers.  In fact, no political party in Georgia has yet achieved ballot access for their statewide candidates without hiring professional circulators.  If you think that is unfair, help us pass HB-672 in the Georgia General Assembly. 
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If you want to see the Georgia Green Party on the ballot in the mean time, help us circulate a petition. 
We can use any time or energy you have to offer to this effort.  If you can volunteer a few hours each month or a week, that will help put us over the top.  Please join our 300 for 300 Green Action Team! 
If you are looking for a job, we can use your help full or part time. 
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Collecting valid signatures can be tricky. 
  • Each signer must be a registered voter. 
  • They must sign their county's petition page. 
  • They must include on the petition their signature (which matches the one on file with their county election superintendent), their printed name, the address where they are registered to vote, their county and the date of their signature. 
Still, in order for the signatures to be validated, each petition sheet must be completed by the petition circulator, who must: 
  • complete the blanks on the circulator's affidavit. 
  • sign the affidavit before a disinterested notary. 
  • have their signature notarized. 
A notary is considered disinterested if they neither signed nor circulated the petition.  This is very important.  In 1996, both the Natural law Party and the U.S. Taxpayers Party lost their ballot-access bids because circulators had notarized large quantities of petition pages. 
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Whether you want to collect signatures from just your co-workers, church members or neighbors -- or to work full time at this effort -- we need your help.  Our petition crews will travel to the best festivals and outdoor concerts in Georgia.  The work music can't be beat.  You'll meet lots of interesting people.  You'll have lots of opportunities to talk politics.  You'll hear no's, but you will also meet new Greens who are ready to get involved and help us build this Party.  And every one of those conversations is a gem and pleasure.  Those few enthusiastic yes's make all the no's worthwhile. 
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It's a numbers game.  The rules are rigged to keep us off the ballot.  But if that bothers you (without incapacitating you with anger), you just may make a great petition circulator. 

Here is a .pdf copy of the petition.  It is a two page affair.  It is very important that you print your petitions on LEGAL size paper measuring 8.5" x 14" and that you print the "Circulator's Affidavit" on the back of each page of the "Nomination Petition".  To be valid each petition must have an affidavit on the back which is completed, signed and notarized. 

And if you are going to be able to conduct your petition work unmolested by merchants and police, it is best to know a little about your constitutional right to petition. 

We look forward to hearing from you. 
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-- Hugh Esco
Canvas Director, 
Georgia Green Party

P.S.  Please take five minutes to sign the cyber-petition at: 

It will make a difference for democracy in this state.  Thank you, very much. 
 
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Georgia Green Party
ggp@greens.org  *  P.O. Box 5332; Atlanta, GA 31107 
(770) 635-3496 vm & fax or from outside of Atlanta (877) GREEN-09