FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 1st, 2004
Coalition Meets with Secretary Cox
Gubernatorial Hopeful Asked to Get Out in Front of Movement for Paper Ballots
A broad based Coalition met Friday morning with Secretary of State Cathy Cox asking her to join the movement for a
transparent and audit-able election system, anchored on a voter verified paper ballot.
"We would prefer to see you on top of this issue as opposed to being rolled over by it," said Richard Searcy,
spokesperson for the group in a prepared statement delivered to Ms. Cox. "As American citizens, our sole concern is the
sanctity of the vote and confidence in the election system. We would much prefer to be your allies on this issue, but we
have a strategy that we will carry through all the way to November and beyond if necessary. . . . We will even work to
help you find the money, but we will not settle for spin, subterfuge, or anything less than verifiable voter ballot
printouts which gives the citizens of Georgia a reason to have confidence in our election system."
"While some in our Coalition fear that Secretary Cox might prefer to to drag this out, I'm confident that she wants to
be on the right side of history. I was given hope that she too wants to find a way to fix this threat to the integrity
of our elections," said Hugh Esco, chair of the Voter Choice Coalition and Political Coordinator of the Georgia Green
Party. "She shared her concerns, which I trust can be addressed when the Committee takes up SB-500 this coming
Thursday."
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