Group in Movement to Challenge Ohio's Electoral Votes Plans Summit

PDA - Progressive Democrats of America
Supporting the Progressive Vote

Media Advisory
January 10th, 2004

For Immediate Release / Contact: Tim Carpenter 413-320-2015

Lead Group in Movement to Challenge Ohio's Electoral Votes Plans Summit to Address "What's Next."

Washington, D.C. - Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) will meet with hundreds of activists from across the country in Washington DC on January 21 -23, 2005 to discuss election reform and other progressive plans for 2005 and beyond. Key leaders of the movement to contest the 2004 Presidential vote will convene a panel to discuss the lessons learned. In the audience will be hundreds of activists committed to PDA's 9-point electoral reform package, which calls for:

1. A Constitutional amendment confirming the right to vote, as advocated by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)

2. Required paper trails for all electronic and electronically tabulated voting systems

3. Same-day registration for all Americans

4. The creation of unified federal standards for national elections

5. Meaningful equal protection of voting rights by such means as equalvoting systems, equal numbers of machines, and equal time to vote

6. An end to partisan oversight of the electoral process

7. Extended voting periods to allow all voters a meaningful opportunity to vote

8. Instant Run-off Voting, Proportional Representation and Fusion

9. Publicly financed elections for federal offices

Panelists include Gregory Moore (NAACP National Voter Fund), David Cobb (Green Party Presidential Candidate), Gary Flowers (Policy Director Rainbow PUSH/Coalition) and others. The election reform panel, one of dozens scheduled during the Summit, will convene at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, January 23rd at the David A. Clarke School of Law Auditorium, 4200 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. as part of a larger program to advance and bolster the Progressive movement within the Democratic Party and alliances between progressive Democrats and other progressive organizations.

Tim Carpenter, Director of PDA, says of the Summit, "The Progressive Democratic Summit in Washington, DC on January 21 -23, 2005 is an historic gathering where progressive grassroots activists and progressive allies from across the country will strengthen our collaborative ties and efforts, lay concrete plans to end the war in Iraq, to unite in our call for single payer health care, and challenge the Bush administration in it's short sighted avaricious views and practices, whether of social security or the environment."

The Summit is an active "working weekend" with hands on action panels and small group meetings on regional issues and alliances. Already confirmed participants include Amy Goodman, Tom Hayden, Medea Benjamin, William Rivers Pitt and dozens of other respected activists. Planners hope to leave the Summit with a synchronized time line of how to take back the heart and soul of the political process and the Democratic Party and of our economy and our institutions from the moneyed interests and the military-industrial complex now controlling them.

More information about the summit agenda and registration is available at www.pdamerica.org

Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) was a leading organization in the movement to contest the Ohio electors on January 6th, 2005. PDA mobilized over 100,000 activists to lobby Senator Boxer and Representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones to stand and contest the Ohio Electors based on evidence of election fraud and helped lobby for Congressional Forums with Representative John Conyers (D-MI) both inside the Judiciary Committee and in Ohio.

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