By Katey Culver
Hello friends and family,
As many of you know I have been involved in 2 lawsuits against the State of TN with the Green Party of TN. Our first lawsuit took 3 years and ended in a WIN. The judge ruled the State’s election laws were unconstitutional. The legislature acted quickly (huh?!) and put in place new laws that did NOT address the unconstitutionality of the law the way the judge ruled.
So we sued again. This time the case went through the system quickly with the judge furious at the Assistant District Attorney for how she presented her case. The judge once again ruled in our favor. Only this time he added some stipulations including declaring the Green Party of TN has met its requirements to be put on the ballot! This means Green candidates will have their Party affiliation listed with their name on the ballot AND they don’t have to collect signatures. For the Green Party this is huge!
But wait! There’s more! In addition the judge ruled that the order in which the candidates are listed on the ballot must be random. Instead of the usual layout where the incumbent is listed first, the “other” Party is second and all independents below that alphabetically, now they must do a drawing for the order of placement on the ballot! Theoretically the Green Party candidate could be listed first. (Due to the lack of credibility within the election system I doubt they will let that happen, but it’s possible.)
But wait! There’s Still more! This election cycle all State House, State Senate and US Congress Districts were redistricted! And to make it even better the districts are LESS gerrymandered than before! In looking at the new districts they are easier to run in because they are more compact. This means (at least) 2 things: No district has an incumbent running and the new districts are easier to navigate. Races without incumbents are easier to win as people are more open to hearing all the different views.
Yes, there is MORE! Never has there been a better opportunity to run a campaign based on values! This is a great opportunity to fulfill our civic duty to participate in our democracy by throwing our hats in the ring! We have had decades of wishy-washy politics in this state. Here is an opportunity to shake up the State Legislature by running candidates in as many districts as we can – and winning in those districts. Not as impossible as it sounds with redistricting in our favor and a ballot line!
I hope each of you will take a look at the new district maps and see what your new district looks like and consider what office you would like to run for . Or perhaps your skills are better used to support a candidate. All campaigns need support people – campaign manager, treasurer, volunteer coordinator, etc. PLEASE, take a look at your life and see if there is a way to fit in this opportunity. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for! We keep saying this – now is the time to put it in action! Who better than us to offer a new direction in policy making?!
Go Green,
Katey
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Katey Culver
Permaculture designer
Ecoville ArchiTechs
www.earthandstraw.com
