On October 9, the city of Los Angeles named Luis J. Rodriguez poet laureate for the city. See this story.
No one is allowed to vote for Rodriguez for California Governor next month, because he did not place first or second in June. The Green Party has never polled as much as 1,000,000 votes for the offices at the top of the ballot in a mid-term year. It is likely that if Rodriguez were on the California November ballot, the Green Party would exceed 1,000,000 votes for the top offices for the first time in a mid-term year. Howie Hawkins is likely to receive 500,000 votes for Governor of New York, and Anita Rios is likely to receive 200,000 for Governor of Ohio. This year the Green Party also has candidates on the ballot for the top office in Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Michigan, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. The total would probably reach 1,000,000 if Rodriguez were on the California ballot.
The best showing in the Green Party’s history, for the top office in mid-term years, was in 2006, when the national total was 955,866.
Interesting voting data on the Greens. But they appear to be a “regional” or “urban” party rather than a national party.
I know ballot access is harder in states like Alabama, but one would think the Greens would appear on more state ballots than they do.
Anyone, have an answer as to why this appears as such?
Jill Stein, Green Party presidential nominee, appeared on the ballot in 36 states in 2012 (plus DC), including Alabama ind Mississippi.
But is there an active Green Party in either of these states? Especially Mississippi, where just being “organized” gets a party on the ballot practically forever – as long as it remains organized and runs a candidate statewide occasionally. Or do they even have to run a candidate in Mississippi?
One would think with such easy ballot access, there would be several active 3rd parties in Mississippi. To my knowledge, only the Reform Party and the Constitution Party run numerous candidates.
They have Green Parties in Ala. and Miss. My guess is they have them in all 50 states, it’s just a matter of the state laws making it difficult to get on the ballot.
Richard, by my count Jill Stein was on the ballot in 36 states + DC
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Iowa
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Dakota
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
You’re right. Thank you. I’m correcting my comment.