[Peace-discuss] Prairie Greens to file suit (press release)

[Ken Urban]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Prairie Greens Step Towards Filing Suit Against Champaign County Clerk

Contact:  Ken Urban, phone: 217-356-7987, e-mail: kenurban at kenurban.com

Four members of the Prairie Green Party of East Central Illinois are
making  preparations to file suit for ballot placement against the
Champaign County  Clerk.  The clerk refused to accept the petitions to
place the candidates on the ballot for the March 16 primary.

Ken Urban, Al Weiss, John Paul Schmit, and Jennifer Walling each
submitted petitions on December 15 to run for Green Party precinct
committeemen in Champaign County.  Urban also submitted petitions to
stand in the primary for Green candidate for county board in District 7.

County Clerk Mark Shelden rejected the petitions, arguing that the Green
Party is not established in Champaign County.  The candidates counter
that the 2002 Congressional candidacy of Carl Estabrook established the
party at the county level.  Estabrook earned 8.7% of the vote in
Champaign County, far more than the established party threshold of 5%. 
The legal question revolves around whether a Congressional campaign can
establish a party at the county level.

"The election code makes no mention that the 5% threshold must be from
the political subdivision for county level established party status,"
says Weiss. "Indeed, the code explicitly states that established party
status in the county is based on the highest vote getter of the party in
the county irrespective of the office sought."

Established party status allows a political party to have precinct
committeemen and a central committee in the relevant jurisdiction.  The
party is able to participate in the March primaries, and the central
committee has the ability to slate candidates for offices within the
jurisdiction, eliminating the "new party" requirement for extensive
petition drives for ballot placement.

"Established party status provides far greater ballot access to
candidates who wish to affiliate with that party," says Weiss.  "By
reducing the restrictions for ballot access, the Green Party would be
able to more easily recruit candidates and spend its resources on
elections rather than on merely gaining 
access to the ballot.  We believe such an outcome is desirable to
provide more substantive debate on issues in local elections."

"Ballot restrictions against third parties in Illinois are notorious
across the country, so we're not surprised to come up against this,"
adds Walling. "In 2002, we demonstrated that we have significant support
in Champaign County, and in 2004, we intend to build upon that."

The Prairie Greens are a local affiliate of the Illinois Green Party, an
accredited state party of the Green Party of the United States.  For
more information on the Prairie Greens, visit
http://www.prairiegreens.org.

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Ken Urban
Assoc. Prof., Computer Science
Parkland College

Office: B129A
           (217)-353-2246
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