Dear Friend,

We need your help right now to get the Green Party presidential ticket on the remaining state ballots. We are now on the ballot in 32 states, qualified for write-in votes in 4 states, and fighting for ballot access in 14 more states with petition drives and lawsuits against reckless, undemocratic ballot requirements during these pandemic conditions. Our ballot access map shows the ballot status of each state.

Please donate now at HowieHawkins.us. Until August 24, your contributions of up to a cumulative $250 will be matched by the federal government. Our campaign is the only presidential campaign in any party that qualified for federal presidential primary matching funds in 2020.

Ballot access is costly. We have to pay for petitioners, filing fees, and the lawsuits necessary to get relief in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic where physical petitioning goes against public health guidelines.

Green candidates, including past presidential nominees, have frequently relied on paid petitioning firms to contribute toward ballot access efforts. Those firms are engaging in price gouging this year, charging nearly 600% over the rate for previous campaigns.

So we have focused on recruiting our own paid petitioners from Greens who need the work during this economic crisis.. They are hard at work but they can’t do it alone. If you can help petition, please volunteer.

We are currently petitioning in 11 states:

• Georgia: 5,250 signatures due August 14
• Iowa: 1,500 signatures due August 14
• Minnesota: 2,000 signatures due August 18
• Tennessee: 275 signatures due August 18
• Alabama: 5,000 signatures due August 20
• Virginia: 2,500 signatures due August 21
• Idaho: 1,000 signatures due August 24
• North Dakota: 4,000 signatures due August 31
• Arizona: 37,769 signatures due September 4
• Kentucky: 5,000 signatures due September 4
• Rhode Island: 1,000 signatures due September 4

We are in court seeking relief in Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Nevada. Our team of lawyers has negotiated relief from state governments or won relief in the courts in Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, and Vermont to get us on the ballot.

And now the Democrats are trying to claw back the victories we won in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — that means more time in court and more legal bills. Pennsylvania alone is estimated to cost at least $15,000.

We also have filing fees to get on the ballot in many states:

• Alaska: $600
• Georgia: $15
• Kentucky: $500
• Mississippi: $2,500
• Montana: $1,740
• Nevada: $250
• New Hampshire: $250
• Oklahoma: $35,000 (we have sued for relief)
• Oregon: $3,500 (for candidate statement included with ballots mailed to every voter)
• Pennsylvania: $200
• Utah: $500
• Wyoming: $200

We not only have to pay a ransom to run, since they hold ballot access hostage. We have to get exponentially more signatures to get on the ballot than most other electoral democracies.

Without a ballot line, Greens have to do independent nominating petitions. If a Green wants to do an independent petition for ballot access for the House of Representatives, it takes thousands of signatures in many states:

• 3,500 in New York
• over 4,000 in Arizona
• over 15,000 in Illinois
• over 20,000 in Georgia and Ohio
• over 30,000 in Alabama
• over 40,000 in Indiana

By comparison, if you want to run as an independent for the House of Commons in the UK, it takes 10 signatures. In New Zealand 2 signatures, Australia 50, Canada 100 (or 50 in rural districts), Germany 200.

The two governing parties created these anti-democratic ballot access laws to stifle competition from the likes of the Green Party. But we are going to fight them for our basic democratic right to run candidates.

In 40 of the 50 states, our vote in the presidential race will determine whether the Green Party has a state ballot line for the next election cycle and Green candidates can get on the ballot for down ticket races much more easily. In most states, the threshold to win a ballot line is 1%, 2%, or 3%. We can do it.

Our country needs the Green Party now more than ever.

Their failure to suppress the COVID-19 pandemic and to protect people in the COVID-19 economic depression shows us that the two governing parties are presiding over a failed state.

We support real solutions like Medicare for All, a full-strength Green New Deal, an Economic Bill of Rights, and Peace Initiatives to end the endless wars and reverse the new nuclear arms race. Our opponents, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, oppose these solutions.

If we are not on the ballot in a state, we are not really in the election in that state.

Please donate today for ballot access. Your contribution of $250, when matched by the government, means we will be 250 signatures closer to getting on the ballot in another state.

In solidarity fighting for our future,
Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker
2020 Green Party Nominees for President and Vice President

P.S. Remember, if you donate before August 24, your contributions of up to a cumulative $250 will be doubled by the federal matching funds. Your $25 contribution means $50 for ballot access. Your $250 contribution means $500 for ballot access.