Happy May Day! Register for June 3, 2014 Election!

May Day is International Workers Day, originating in the US in the 1880s in the struggle for the 8-hour day and is now celebrated around the world, including in the US. While most of the world has official or semi-official parades or demonstrations, in the US, we find whatever occasion we have to celebrate May Day and educate everyone about issues affecting the workingclass. Mayday is also a sailor’s distress call, and in California, our Mayday call is for saving the socialist party on California ballot, Peace & Freedom Party, as well as the reformist Green Party, which face disappearance from the California ballot at the end of 2014 if they do not sufficiently increase their registration.

We have an important governor’s primary in California set for June 3, 2014. In the US mail, you should have received or soon will receive your skinny California voter handbook for this election. This is the first of 2 handbooks, the second being your fatter County handbook which will have your polling place on the address side, and far more information on voting, which should arrive in time for absentee, vote-by-mail voting, which starts May 5, 2014. If you have not received these 2 handbooks at your current address by May 12, 2014, go to your County Registrar any weekday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., register to vote, sign up to be a permanent absentee voter so you can vote in the comfort of your home and never forget to vote, and demand an absentee ballot to vote immediately. You can register to vote for the June 3, 2014 election no later than May 19, 2014. After May 19, 2014, you are registering for the November election. The County Registrars are listed at:
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_d.htm

On page 20, the California handbook contains the political party statements of Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party. They can also be found at:
http://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/political-parties/peace-and-freedom.htm
and
http://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/political-parties/green.htm
and here:

1. Peace & Freedom Party
The Peace and Freedom Party is a working-class party in a country run by and for the wealthy and their corporations. We should not have to sacrifice our health, our livelihoods and our planet for our bosses' profits. We can tax the rich, whose wealth is created by workers, to pay for society's needs. We favor:
• Decent jobs and labor rights for all.
• Free education for all from preschool through university.
• Free health care for everyone.
• Comprehensive services for disabled people.
• Bringing all troops home now.
• Ending all discrimination. Marriage equality.
• Full rights for immigrants.
• Real democracy and fair political representation.
• Restoring and protecting the environment.
As long as our system puts the wealthy first, we will suffer war, police brutality, low wages, unsafe workplaces and pollution. We advocate socialism, the ownership and democratic control of the economy by working people. If we join together to take back our industries and natural resources, we can work together democratically and cooperatively for the common good, rather than being slaves to the rich and their corporations.
Register Peace and Freedom Party, and vote for our candidates, who will fight for what you need.

2. Green Party
The Green Party supports viable solutions to our planet's toughest problems, from climate change to historic income inequality. We put people and planet first.
Currently 55 California Greens hold elected office. Voting Green means rejection of austerity against the poor, and support for equity and sustainability. A Green Party government will mean:
ECONOMIC JUSTICE
• Ending poverty through green living wage jobs, affordable housing, single-payer health care, workers' rights, and food security for all
• A publicly-owned state bank to invest in California instead of Wall Street
• Education instead of incarceration, and free public college/university tuition, by reforming Proposition 13 and progressive taxation
ELECTORAL REFORM
• Eliminating corporate money through publicly-financed elections
• More democracy and fuller representation through proportional representation for state legislature and Congress, and ranked choice voting for statewide executive office
• Overturning Top Two
JUSTICE SYSTEM REFORM
• Abolishing the death penalty
• A moratorium on prison construction and an end to private prisons
• Legalizing marijuana
GREEN ENERGY FUTURE
• Closing Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant
• A Solar California, with energy efficiency, conservation and publicly-owned safe, clean renewable energy
• Fossil fuel taxes, public transit, eco-cities
Register Green. Vote Green.
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All parties need registration at least 1% of the voter turnout in November 2014, which will probably be 13 million voters, 1% being 130,000. That should not be a difficult goal to realize, but in this country, where most of the workingclass never votes, and in California, where 21% or 3 million of the registered voters are “No Party Preference,” the small parties must work hard to obtain that goal.

The 60 day before election Report of Registration of April 4, 2014 is now available at:
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror/ror-pages/60day-primary-2014/county.pdf

Peace & Freedom Party has 77,594 registered voters and the Green Party has 109,157 registered voters. This is an improvement over the December 31, 2013 Report of Registration but not enough. There will be lots of Peace & Freedom Party and Green Party candidates on the June ballot, but that is the last time you will see them in 2014 because of the reactionary Top Two primary system, which allows only the top 2 candidates in terms of votes received to be on the November ballot, and most voters are wealthy, reactionary property owners who only vote Democrat-Republican. Thus, it is important that you register either Peace & Freedom Party or Green Party now; your vote for their candidates is not enough to save these two parties.

THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO HELP WORTHWHILE PARTIES STAY ON THE BALLOT. Please register now with either Peace & Freedom Party or Green Party. You can register online at:
http://registertovote.ca.gov/
https://covr.sos.ca.gov/?language=en-US

For more information, see:
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/campaign/june-2014
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/about-us/platform/full-platform
http://www.cindy2014.org/second_place_wins_the_race (Cindy Sheehan for Governor Campaign)

http://www.sfgreenparty.org/
http://www.cagreens.org/elections/2014
http://www.cagreens.org/platform
http://www.gp.org/index.php
http://www.gp.org/green-party-platform-table-of-contents