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Progressives on the Ballot

By Antonio D. French

Filed Tuesday, August 22, 2006 at 12:07 PM

The Progressive Party of Missouri reports that Secretary of State Robin Carnahan today certified six Progressive candidates to appear on the November ballot. The candidates include:

Lydia Lewis of Afton, a retired federal employee and union officer, for U. S. Senate.
David Sladky of Mehlville, a retired brewery worker, for Congress (3rd District).
Terry Bunker of Kansas City, an in-house accountant for a financial institution, for State Auditor.
Melinda “Mel” Ivey of Kansas City, a computer programmer, for U. S. Congress, 4th District.
Shirley Yurkonis of Savannah, a retired social worker, for U. S. Congress, 6th District.
Bill Hastings of Columbia, a retired psychology professor, for U. S. Congress, 9th District.

Local election authorities had certified to the Secretary of State that 12,078 (81%) of the 14,932 petition signatures that the party submitted were valid. Ten thousand valid signatures were required.

Organizers say the new party, which is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States, is filing to provide an alternative view not currently expressed by existing parties.

"We need a real opposition party so that there can be a dialog about getting out of Iraq," said party chair Dee Berry of Kansas City in a press release sent out today.

Labels: Election_Board

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3 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Does this petition only cover state and congressional races? IOW, will "progressive" candidates in future elections be restricted from running for say alderman or a citywide office?

8/22/2006 4:19 PM

Travis Reems said...

If a party is certified in the state, they can run for any offices within the entirety of the state. The difficulty lies in ballot access for third parties due to strenuous petition requirements. What is unfortunate for the progressive party and the electorate as a whole is that they were not able to use the "green party" name, which will lead to confusion. Hopefully the initiative will make it to the November ballot allowing multiple parties to endorse candidates, which will allow for coalition candidates to be supported.

8/22/2006 8:59 PM

St. Louis Oracle said...

I believe Travis is talking about the concept of "fusion," such as in New York, where the same candidate can be nominated by more than one party. I am not aware of any such ballot initiative being considered for the November ballot, and I think the deadline to get something new on the ballot is long past. Correct me if I am wrong, because I'd love to know.

The Progressive Party is a welcome choice for those who believe all the major party candidates pander too much to the right. A higher than expected vote count for Progressive candidates should cause future candidates to pay more attention to views on the left.

8/23/2006 1:40 PM

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