FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 13, 2005

Denver paralegal Rick VanWie announces his campaign for Colorado Secretary of State, and will be running on a platform of providing citizens with a fair and balanced approach to elections. His announcement on Saturday, November 12, in Arvada will kick off VanWie’s year-long effort to educate voters about the importance of the Secretary of State’s decisions on election results.

“Democracy is alive in Colorado. We recognize more political parties than many other states, and our ballot access laws are among the best in the nation. But many people are skeptical regarding the fairness and openness of the electoral process,” Green Party member VanWie said. “As Secretary of State, I will make sure that every vote is counted.”

Since the 2000 presidential election, voters have been increasingly skeptical of elections and government leaders. The maneuvering of elected officials, both Democrat and Republican, in Florida and Ohio in 2000 and 2004 proved to Americans that there are elements in the major parties more interested in winning than in fair and representative results. As a minor party member, VanWie would not be beholden to the major party interests. If elected, he would conduct the state’s business as a true citizen’s representative.

VanWie is a married father of two who works as a paralegal. As a Green Party member, he has held several party offices including co-chair of the Denver Greens, and has been involved in metro area politics.

If elected as Secretary of State, VanWie plans to explore more fair and open voting methods such as Instant Run-Off Voting and, in response to citizen demand, investigate the effectiveness and validity of electronic voting compared to hand-counted paper ballots. He will also work hard to help small and minority owned businesses by waiving all annual filing fees for new small businesses for two years, as well as continue the work of keeping fees low and developing internet based government services.

The Green Party of Colorado will nominate candidates for the 2006 election at its state convention in spring 2006. Per the Colorado Constitution and Colorado Revised Statutes, VanWie is an unofficial candidate seeking the nomination of the state party until the vote at the convention.