On September 21, Maine representative Ralph Chapman announced that he had changed his registration from independent to Green. He was first elected in 2010 as a Democrat, and was re-elected as a Democrat in 2012, 2014, and 2016. He received 57.6% of the vote as the Democratic nominee in November 2016.

On May 26, 2017, he had changed from Democratic to independent. He graduated from college as a physics major, and is an expert on solar energy.

Chapman is the first Green state legislator anywhere in the U.S. since 2012, when Fred Smith was elected in Arkansas as the Green Party nominee. However, almost immediately after the 2012 election, Smith left the Green Party and became a Democrat.

The web page for the Maine legislature already lists Chapman as a Green. See this page. His district is centered on Brooksville, which is in Hancock County, on the coast.

On September 21, the New Mexico Supreme Court refused to hear the case filed by proponents of ranked choice voting in Santa Fe. The voters of Santa Fe long ago voted to use ranked choice voting, but so far the city hasn’t implemented it. The city says it isn’t ready. See this story.

On September 21, an Alaska Superior Court in Juneau held oral argument in Alaska Democratic Party v State. The issue is whether the Democratic Party has the constitutional right to allow registered independents to seek the party’s nomination. State law says no one can get on a party primary ballot unless that individual is a party member. See this story. The case had been filed in 2016.