Green Party

About the Green Party

The Green Party has its origins in the environmental, civil rights, anti-war, anti-nuclear and feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s. The first Green parties formed in Tasmania and New Zealand in 1972. Today there are Green parties and political movements in more than 80 countries. Greens are represented in the national governments of Mexico, France, Germany, Belgium and Latvia.

The Green Party began in the United States in 1984 with the formation of the Green Committees of Correspondence. The Ten Key Values were adopted at this time. In 1990, the Green Party of Alaska became the first green party in the U.S. to achieve ballot status. Today, the Green Party has ballot status in 22 states.

In 1986, only one green candidate stood for election in the United States. In 2004, 433 Green candidates ran in 42 states. Seventy Greens were elected. As of March 2006, 226 Greens hold elected office in 28 states and DC. This growth signals the Green Party’s evolution into an increasingly strong political force.

The Green Party of New York

The Green Party of New York obtained ballot status in 1998 after organizing in this state since the late 1980s. We lost ballot status in 2002, but won a federal court order in 2005 directing the Board of Elections to continue allowing New Yorkers to enroll in the Green Party or in any other party that successfully places a candidate on the ballot in the previous gubernatorial election.

Under the New York Election Law, political parties gain or lose ballot status depending upon how many votes their gubernatorial candidate receives. New York has one of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the country, due to the fact that ballot status hinges entirely upon one race every four years. In many states, any statewide candidate or presidential candidate can qualify a party for ballot status. In New York, only one race qualifies.

2006 is the first opportunity the Green Party has had since 2002 to regain ballot status and become an official political party in New York. To qualify the Green Party for ballot status for the next four years, Malachy McCourt, our candidate for governor needs to receive at least 50,000 votes in the general election. Vote for Malachy on November 7!

Despite our lack of ballot status, three Greens were elected to office in New York in 2005: Mike Sellers was elected Mayor of Village of Cobleskill, Mary Jo Long was elected to the Town Council of Afton, and Steven Krulick was re-elected a Trustee of the Village of Ellenville. They join Greens Rome Celli elected to the Brighton School Board in May 2004, and Jason West and Rebecca Rotzler, elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the village of New Paltz in May 2003.

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