Contact: Gary Zuckett 299-3193 or Frank Young 372-1455

Mountain Party Endorses Voter’s Bill of Rights,

Calls for Volunteers to Assist Ohio Recount

Weston WV - The WV Mountain Party’s State Executive Committee endorsed a national Voter’s Bill of Rights on Sunday and called for volunteers to help monitor the recount effort in Ohio that begins this week.

A Mountain Party delegation attended the national Progressives For Democracy conference in Washington DC December 4^th-5.^th Representatives from 45 organizations from across the nation met to discuss working on common progressive issues. This new coalition has called for support of the Voter’s Bill of Rights

( www.nov3.us/billofrights.php ) a ten-point plan to strengthen and improve citizen’s access to the polls with secure and verified voting.

The Voter’s Bill of Rights also calls for a fair and accurate recount of the presidential race in Ohio and other states where voting irregularities have been reported. “Voting is the bedrock of our democracy. When the accuracy and accessibility of our voting is in question, it rocks the foundation of our nation. In Ohio, a non-partisan investigation is needed to discover the truth. US Citizens will not stand for anything but fair and honest elections to install our leaders,” commented Gary Zuckett, Mountain Party chair after their vote to support the Bill of Rights.

The Bill also calls for an end to the “outsourcing” of our voting procedures such as maintenance of Florida voter lists handled by for-profit corporations with political agendas.

Another outsourcing conflict exists with Walden "Wally" O'Dell, CEO of Diebold, an Ohio company that manufactures and programs paperless “touch screen” computer voting machines. Incidentally, Odell was also a “pioneer” who helped raise $100,000 for Bush and last summer pledged to "help(ing) Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President."

Members of the Green, Democratic and Libertarian parties are coordinating efforts to place a monitor in every precinct during the recount. Thousands of citizens from around the country are converging on Ohio this week donating their time to try and make sure the recount is done fairly and correctly.

Multiple trainings were held over the weekend in every corner of the state to show volunteers what to look for when monitoring recounts in their assigned counties.