Cheri Honkala is the vice presidential candidate for the Green Party. The Stein-Honkala campaign notes:
Cheri Honkala rallies for voting rights
At
a press conference today in front of the Municipal Service Building in
Philadelphia, Green Party VP candidate and National Coordinator for the
Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, Cheri Honkala, made the
following remarks about the state’s proposed new voter ID law, currently
being challenged in the courts:
“Politicians should be our servants. It
says in the Declaration of Independence that in America power is derived
from the consent of the governed. And that consent is
granted, formally, by our vote that elects people to office. So
politicians have no just power except that which we award them
by our vote. That's why the right to vote is fundamental to
the legitimacy of our government. If you don't let me vote, you have no
right to exercise the power of office.
“Yet
the politicians don't respect our right to vote. They pass laws to
avoid accountability to the voters. They use gerrymandering to redraw
districts so that they can't be defeated by the vote of their
constituents. They pass restrictive ballot access laws to keep
independents and third party candidates off the ballot. They find
excuses for denying the vote to people in prison, to college students,
and to immigrants. And they pass laws like the Pennsylvania voter ID law
to discourage people from trying to vote.
“In their arrogance, they view voters as
annoyances, as people to be manipulated and disempowered and kept in
their place. It's up to us not to let them get away with it. We must
defend the right of every person who lives, works, and pays taxes in
America to register to vote, to cast their vote, and to have their vote
counted. We must not accept anti-voter laws like the Pennsylvania Voter
ID law.
“We, the people, are not committing vote
fraud. We, the people, are not trying to manipulate elections. We just
want to exercise our right to vote. It's the politicians who are guilty
of infringing upon the sanctity of the democratic process. We can't
allow them to get away with it.
“Let's demand that this voter ID law be
suspended. Let's demand that it be repealed. Let's demand that everyone
be allowed to vote. And if we want to run for office, let's demand that
they not put obstacles in our way.
“The patriots who founded our nation by
rebelling against their colonial masters had a rallying cry: No taxation
without representation! Well, if you don't allow us to vote, or to
be on the ballot as candidates, then you are denying us representation.
How dare you do that, and then try to tax us, or regulate us, or
impose laws to imprison us.
“Mr. Politician, remove the barriers and let the people vote!”
Also at today’s rally were representatives from: United, NAACP
President Ben Todd Jealous joins the Pennsylvania NAACP State
Conference, United Steel Workers, TWU 234, PA Voter ID Coalition,
National Action Network- Philadelphia Chapter, Communication Workers of
America Local 13000, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, The
Advancement Project, PA ACLU, Faith and Clergy Leaders, Neighborhood
Networks, Committee of Seventy, Local Elected Officials. MoveON -
Philadelphia, Fight for Philly/SEIU, APRI Pittsburgh ChapterBackground on the poll tax and Supreme Ct. hearing can be found in the Sept 11 York Dispatch article.