Providence, RI – I spent much of the summer petitioning to put Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein on the Rhode Island ballot. It was the easiest petitioning I ever did. I received quite a bit of flak from supporters of Hillary Clinton, but even more often the conversations were around keeping democracy alive.

Now that the election is over and we are into recount season, it is quite obvious that it is the Green Party that is keeping democracy alive, a democracy in which every vote is properly counted.

I find it rather ironic that Hillary Clinton has finally signed on to the recount effort pushed by Stein so that the Democratic Party can keep up the pretense that it supports real democracy. They could not afford for the Green Party to get all the credit.

Donald Trump and the Republicans are saying the recount is phony, but offer no explanation of why demanding a recount is illegitimate.

We are glad Democrats around the country are supporting the recount, but I think the American public needs to remember that neither of the large parties actually supports real democracy. If we wish for a truly functioning democracy, we need to keep space in American politics for parties that actually support counting every vote and opening up the political process to the American people.

Greg Gerritt

Providence Journal

November 29, 2016