The Party for Socialism and Liberation
is proud to announce that our 2012 campaign is confirmed as being on the ballot
in Arkansas, Colorado, Vermont and New Jersey!
These are just the first four of many
states throughout the country in which the PSL's campaign is seeking ballot
access. We will bring the campaign’s socialist message to poor and working
people in every region of the country.
With just this initial success, millions
of workers will have the option of voting for the PSL’s campaign. Instead of
voting for one of the two major parties beholden to the interests of the
bankers and CEOs, people in these four states can cast a vote for revolution!
These states in particular are badly in
need of a socialist alternative. Arkansas suffers under significantly greater
poverty – 18 percent according to the government’s outrageously low threshold –
than the rest of the country, and the state legislature is considering harsh
budget cuts. Colorado was among the first states to be hit hard by the
capitalist economic crisis, leading the country in foreclosures in 2006.
Last year, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin's
budget included 83 million dollars in cuts, affecting programs that provide assistance
for mental and children's health care. In New Jersey, workers face an
unemployment rate that is even higher than the outrageous national average.
Now the working people of Arkansas,
Colorado, Vermont and New Jersey can vote against the twin parties responsible
for these attacks. This tremendous accomplishment was made possible by the hard
work of PSL volunteers. The Lindsay/Osorio PSL presidential campaign is truly a
grassroots movement with no paid campaign workers.
Please make an urgently needed donation
to help us get on the ballot in states across the country!
In Arkansas, a team of volunteers
secured our place on the ballot through a tireless petitioning effort. The
minimum requirement in the state is 1,000 valid signatures, but the PSL campaign
managed to turn in over 2,000. Students and members of working-class
communities were eager to help a people’s campaign challenge the twin parties
of the rich.
Our team was able to meet their goal in
just five days, focusing on college campuses, shopping centers and public
events in downtown Little Rock. Petitioners visited campuses like the
University of Arkansas – Little Rock and the University of Central Arkansas.
Many working-class people, especially in the African American community, were
very receptive to our campaign’s anti-racist message in the wake of the murder
of Trayvon Martin, and many were just happy to see the word
"socialism."
Lindsay/Osorio supporters carried out a
similar effort in Vermont. Focusing their efforts on Burlington, volunteers
braved snow and freezing temperatures to collect the 1,000 valid signatures to
be placed on the ballot. The workers and students who signed the petition were
glad to hear that the two-party system would be challenged by a candidate who
will fight against the bankers and CEOs. Because of the overwhelming support
Lindsay/Osorio campaign petitioners recieved from the people of Vermont, they
were able to collect 2,000 signatures in less than a week.
In New Jersey, 800 valid signatures are
required, and the PSL campaign submitted over 1,500.
We would like to thank the many people
willing to be electors for our campaign, a critical part of ballot access work.
In Arkansas, we are required to have one elector for each of four congressional
districts plus two more at-large, while in Colorado we must have nine electors,
in Vermont we must have three, and in New Jersey we must have 14.
Even at this early stage in the
campaign, we are encountering a huge amount of support from people fed up with
unemployment, foreclosures, discrimination and all the other injustices of
capitalist society. The PSL campaign’s demand of seizing the banks to provide
jobs, education, housing, and healthcare for all is clearly resonating.
Source: PSL e-newsletter
July 20, 2012
