This is a draft text that will explain how the criteria for who is a Green Party candidate and/or officeholder applies in each state. The draft text is in process and should not be considered definitive.
Alabama
Voter Registration: Alabama is not a voter registration-by-party state.
State and Federal office:
Alaska
Voter Registration: Alaska is a voter registration-by-party state. The state government of Alaska tracks Green voter registrations. The list is available for purchase from the Alaska Secretary of State.
Any registered Green Party member in Alaska who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office: These races are partisan. Candidates are listed by party. Any candidate listed as a Green is a registered Green and thereby qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
Municipal, school board, county and other local offices: These races are non-partisan. If a registered Green runs for a non-partisan office, they qualify to be listed in the Elections Database. To identify Greens running for non-partisan office, the list of candidates for these offices should be compared to the list of registered Greens.
Affiliation: The Green Party of Alaska is not currently affiliated with the Green Party of the United States. It was affiliated between 2001 and 2020.
Arizona
Voter Registration: Arizona is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Arizona who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
Arkansas
Voter Registration: Arkansas is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Arkansas who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
California
Voter registration: California is a voter registration-by-party state. One can register to vote with any of the ballot status parties, with a non-ballot status party and/or there is also a non-affiliated-with-a-party registration option called No Party Preference (NPP) .
The Green Party of California is a ballot qualified state party. The state of California maintains a publicly available list of registered Greens.
Any registered Green Party member in California who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office: All state and federal elections in California are partisan. Any candidate who is registered with a ballot-status party will have their party affiliation on the ballot next to their name. Candidates running in state and federal elections who are registered with a non-ballot status party or registered NPP will not have a party affiliation listed next to their name. Instead it will say ‘No Party Preference’.
After the ballot qualification period has concluded, the list of ballot-qualified candidates is certified by the Secretary of State. All Greens on that list are included in the Database. For primary elections only, there is a later period to file an official write-in candidate. Once certified, these Green candidates would also be included in the Database.
All other elections in California are officially non-partisan – be they for county, city, education or special district office. For these offices, there is no party label listed next to the name of any candidate. To identify Greens running in these races, it is necessary to compare the most current list of registered Greens with the lists of all candidates running. These candidate lists are provided by the county registrar of voters (except in a very small number of cases, by the city in which the election is held.)
Green Party of California bylaws also provide for non-citizens to be considered party members, if they are approved by their county Green Party under procedures described in that county party’s bylaws. However non-citizens can not run for most offices in California, as one has to be a registered voter to run for almost all public offices. An exception is for Neighborhood Councils in Los Angeles, where candidates need not be US citizens nor legal residents to qualify.
The Green Party of California is a ballot qualified state party and is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party.
Colorado
Voter Registration: Colorado is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Colorado who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
The Green Party of Colorado is a ballot qualified state party. The Green Party of Colorado is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party.
Connecticut
Voter Registration: Connecticut is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Connecticut who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
The Green Party of Connecticut is a ballot qualified state party. The Green Party of Connecticut is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party.
Delaware
Voter Registration: Delaware is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Delaware who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office: These races are partisan. Candidates are listed by party. Any candidate listed as a Green is a registered Green and qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
Municipal, school board, county and other local offices: These races are non-partisan. If a registered Green runs for a non-partisan office, they qualify to be listed in the Elections Database. To identify Greens running for non-partisan office, the list of candidates for these offices should be compared to the list of registered Greens.
State party affiliation: The Green Party of Delaware is a ballot qualified state party. The Green Party of Delaware is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party.
District of Colombia
Voter Registration: The District of Colombia is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in the District of Colombia who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
All races are partisan in the District of Colombia, with the exception of Advisory Neighborhood Council (ANC), which are non-partisan. All partisan races are posted by the D.C. Department of Elections, with Green next to the candidate’s name.
To identify all Greens running for ANC, it is necessary to compare the most current list of registered Greens with the lists of ANC candidates.
The D.C. Statehood Green Party is a ballot qualified state party. The D.C. Statehood Green Party is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party.
Florida
Voter Registration: Florida is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Florida who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office: These races are partisan. Candidates are listed by party. Any candidate listed as a Green is a registered Green and qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
Municipal, school board, county and other local offices: These races are non-partisan. If a registered Green runs for a non-partisan office, they qualify to be listed in the Elections Database. To identify Greens running for non-partisan office, the list of candidates for these offices should be compared to the list of registered Greens.
The Green Party of Florida is a ballot qualified state party. The Green Party of Florida is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party
Georgia
Voter Registration: Georgia is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Hawaii
Voter Registration: Hawaii is not a voter registration-by-party state.
State and Federal office:
Idaho
Voter Registration: Idaho is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Idaho who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
Illinois
Voter Registration: Illinois is not a voter registration-by-party state.
State and Federal office:
Indiana
Voter Registration: Indiana is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Iowa
Voter Registration: Iowa is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Iowa who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
Kansas
Voter Registration: Kansas is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Kansas who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
Kentucky
Voter Registration: Kentucky is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Kentucky who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
Louisiana
Voter Registration: Louisiana is a voter registration-by-party state.
State and Federal office:
Any registered Green Party member in Louisiana who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
The Green Party of Louisiana is a ballot qualified state party. The Green Party of Louisiana is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party.
Maine
Voter Registration: Maine is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Maine who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office: These races are partisan. Candidates are listed by party. Any candidate listed as a Green is a registered Green and qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
Municipal, school board, county and other local offices: These races are non-partisan. If a registered Green runs for a non-partisan office, they qualify to be listed in the Elections Database. To identify Greens running for non-partisan office, the list of candidates for these offices should be compared to the list of registered Greens.
The Maine Green Independent Party is a ballot qualified state party. The Maine Green Independent Party is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party.
Maryland
Voter Registration: Maryland is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Maine who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
Massachusetts
Voter Registration: Massachusetts is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Maine who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office: These races are partisan. Candidates are listed by party. Any candidate listed as a Green is a registered Green and qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
Municipal, school board, county and other local offices: These races are non-partisan. If a registered Green runs for a non-partisan office, they qualify to be listed in the Elections Database. To identify Greens running for non-partisan office, the list of candidates for these offices should be compared to the list of registered Greens.
Michigan
Voter Registration: Michigan is not a voter registration-by-party state.
Ballot Status: The Green Party of Michigan is considered a WHAT party.
State and Federal office: Michigan state law requires the Green Party to nominate by state party convention or caucus and not by primary (at least until/unless a top-of-ticket statewide candidate gets 5% or more of the vote total of the latest winning candidate for Secretary of State) is MCL 168.686a:
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-168-686a
Subsection (1) lists the basic requirement. Subsection (4) requires the Green Party to file nomination paperwork from the state convention by the end of the first business day after the convention ends. The same next-business-day requirement applies to county caucuses per subsection (2).
County and Municipal Office:
Minnesota
Voter Registration: Minnesota is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Mississippi
Voter Registration: Mississippi is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Missouri
Voter Registration: Missouri is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Montana
Voter Registration: Montana is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Nebraska
Voter Registration: Nebraska is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Nebraska who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
Nevada
Voter Registration: Nevada is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Nevada who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
The Green Party of Nevada is not a ballot qualified state party. The Green Party of Nevada is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party.
New Hampshire
Voter Registration: New Hampshire is a voter registration-by-party state.
State and Federal office:
New Jersey
Voter Registration: New Jersey is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in New Jersey who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
The Green Party of New Jersey is a ballot qualified state party. The Green Party of New Jersey is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party.
New Mexico
Voter Registration: New Mexico is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in New Mexico who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
In New Mexico, regular local elections (§1-22-3(B)) and judicial retention elections (§1-26-2(A)) are non-partisan. County, state, and federal elections are partisan.
The Green Party of New Mexico is a ballot qualified state party. The Green Party of New Mexico is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party.
New York
Voter Registration: New York is a voter registration-by-party state. The State of New York maintains a publicly available list of enrolled (registered) Greens.
Any enrolled (registered) Green Party member in New York who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office: All state and federal elections in New York are partisan.
When the Green Party has had ballot status in New York (1998-2002, 2010-2021), an enrolled Green could collect the required number of signatures from registered Green voters and appear on the ballot for state or federal office as a Green Party candidate. They would be included in the Elections Database.
Under New York’s fusion law, such an enrolled Green could have a Green Party ballot line and the ballot line of another ballot qualified party. In practice this never has occurred for state or federal office. But if it did, the candidate would be included in the Elections Database and the number of votes the candidate got on each ballot line would included.
Under New York election law, any candidate from any party (or from no party) could also collect the required number of signatures from registered Green voters and appear on the ballot as a Green Party candidate. These non-enrolled Greens would not be included in the Elections Database, even if they won a contested primary vs. an enrolled Green for the same office.
When the Green Party has not had ballot status in New York (1994-1998, 2002-2010, 2021 to the present), an enrolled Green could still collect the required number of signatures from registered Green voters and appear on the ballot for state or federal office as a Green Party candidate. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN THE NUMBER OF SIGNATURES BETWEEN WHEN THE PARTY HAS BALLOT STATUS AND WHEN IT DOES NOT. They would be included in the Elections Database.
Elections for city and town offices are partisan.
Village elections are partisan, but candidates can’t use the labels of parties that have ballot status. So when the Green Party had ballot status in New York, Greens running in villages could not use ‘Green Party’ as their ballot label. But whe the Greenn Party did not have ballot stauts, enrolled Greens can (and have) runn as Greens on the village ballot.
They give themselves local labels (which are ofter synonyms for the real Democrats and Republicans, but not always — sometimes they reflect factions built around family or personal feuds).
Most school board elections are nonpartisan. Some are partisan, e.g., Syracuse and Rochester.
WhSo when Jason West and Rebecca Rotzler were elected in the village of New Paltz in 2003 when the Greens didn’t have statewide ballot status, they ran as Greens on the village ballot. The couldn’t have done that between 2011 and 2020 when we had ballot status and would have had to choose a non-ballot status party name. But it was clearly the Democrats under village party labels that fought to keep the Greens off the village board — everybody knew that.
The Green Party of New York is not a ballot qualified state party. It was a ballot-qualified state party between November 1998 and
The Green Party of New York is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States as an accredited state party.
North Carolina
Voter Registration: North Carolina is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in North Carolina who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
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North Dakota
Voter Registration: North Dakota is not a voter registration-by-party state.
State and Federal office:
Ohio
Voter Registration: Ohio is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Oklahoma
Voter Registration: Oklahoma is a voter registration-by-party state.
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Oregon
Voter Registration: Oregon is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Oregon who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
State and Federal office:
Pennsylvania
Voter Registration: Pennsylvania is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Pennsylvania who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
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Rhode Island
Voter Registration: Rhode Island is a voter registration-by-party state. But one can only register in a party that has ballot status.
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South Carolina
Voter Registration: South Carolina is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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South Dakota
Voter Registration: South Dakota is a voter registration-by-party state.
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Tennessee
Voter Registration: Tennessee is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Texas
Voter Registration: Texas is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Utah
Voter Registration: Utah is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Utah who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
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Vermont
Voter Registration: Vermont is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Virginia
Voter Registration: Virginia is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Washington
Voter Registration: Washington is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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West Virginia
Voter Registration: West Virginia is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in West Virginia who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
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Wisconsin
Voter Registration: Wisconsin is not a voter registration-by-party state.
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Wyoming
Voter Registration: Wyoming is a voter registration-by-party state.
Any registered Green Party member in Wyoming who runs for office and/or serves in elected office qualifies to be listed in the Elections Database.
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