Maine Green Party Fails to get its U.S. Senate Candidate on the Green Party Primary Ballot

Posted on by February 24, 2020
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On February 24, the Maine Green Party announced publicly that it will not be able to place its candidate for U.S. Senate, Lisa Savage, on the Maine Green Party primary ballot. Maine, like Massachusetts and Arizona, makes it extremely difficult for a small ballot-qualified party to place members on its own primary ballot. Maine requires 2,000 signatures of party members, regardless of whether the party has hundreds of thousands of members, or a much smaller number.

The Maine Libertarian Party is currently suing over the primary petition requirements, and the fact that the Green Party was unable to overcome will be put into evidence. The only three ballot-qualified parties in Maine in the last 40 years, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, have been the Libertarian, Reform, and Green Parties. None of them has ever been able to place any member on the primary ballot who was running for either house of Congress.

Savage will instead petition as an independent. That requires 4,000 signatures, but any voter may sign, so it is far easier than getting 2,000 signatures of party members. The Maine Green Party has 43,143 registered members but they are scattered all over the state.

Florida Ballot Access Case Filed

Posted on by February 24, 2020
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On February 24, two ballot-qualified parties in Florida filed a federal lawsuit against the 2011 law that says qualified parties can’t be on the November ballot for president unless they either are recognized by the Federal Election Commission as “national committees”, or unless they submit a petition of 1% of the registered voters by mid-July of an election year. In 2020 the number of signatures would be 132,781.

The two plaintiff political parties are the Independent Party of Florida, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

The law was passed in 2011, but in late 2011, the Secretary of State said he would not enforce the new law, because he had no official knowledge of which parties are recognized by the FEC as national committees. Therefore, the law had no impact on the 2012 election. But, in early September 2016, the Secretary of State reversed himself and said he would enforce it, and that decision came so late in the election season, it wasn’t possible for any of the affected parties to sue. Here is the Complaint. The Independent Party of Florida v Lee, n.d., 4:20cv-110. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Mark E. Walker, an Obama appointee.

New Enrollment Data for New York

Posted on by February 24, 2020
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New registration (enrollment) data for New York: Democratic 5,900,507; Republican 2,611,227; Independence 432,943; Conservative 147,606; Working Families 40,335; Green 24,504; Libertarian 13,567; SAM Party 348; other and independent 2,530,099. These are as of February 10, 2020.

Percentages are: Democratic 50.43%; Republican 22.32%; Independence 3.70%; Conservative 1.26%; Working Families .34%; Green .21%; Libertarian .12%; SAM .003%; other and independent 21.62%.

In October 2018, the percentages were: Democratic 49.94%; Republican 22.76%; Independence 3.83%; Conservative 1.26%; Working Families .36%; Green .24%; Libertarian .07%; Women’s Equality .05%; Reform .02%; other and independent 21.48%.