On May 4, the Maine Joint State & Local Government Committee took testimony on LD 1041, which changes the law on how a party remains on the Maine ballot, from having polled 5% at either of the last two elections for the office at the top of the ballot, to whether it had 10,000 registered members who voted in the last general election.

The Green Party is the only ballot-qualified party in Maine (except for the Democratic and Republican Parties). Since it has approximately 30,000 registered members, the bill wouldn’t seem to injure the party, although the party has not taken an official position on the bill. One advantage to the party is that it would be free to skip running a candidate for Governor in 2010, and would almost certainly be likely to remain qualified. Sometimes minor parties would rather concentrate on races they can win.

The bill would not alter how an unqualified party becomes qualified. If an unqualified party sponsored a nominee who polled 5% for Governor or President, that group would become a qualified party, even if the bill were to become law.

The bill’s chances seem good. The Committee will hold a work session on the bill on Wednesday, May 13.

The Maine Joint Committee on State and Local Government holds a hearing on May 4 at 9 a.m. One of the bills, LD 1041, would change the method by which a party remains ballot-qualified. Present law says it must have polled 5% for the office at the top of the ticket at either of the last two elections. The Green Party remains on the ballot by polling 5% for Governor in every mid-term year.

The bill would delete the vote test, and instead provide that a party remains on the ballot if it had at least 10,000 registered members who voted in the last general election.

The Green Party did not ask for this change, but would probably continue to remain on the ballot, since it had over 27,000 registered members as of October 2008. It seems very likely that at least 10,000 of them voted in November 2008.