Ballot Status History – Green Party of California

1992: The Green Party of California qualified for statewide ballot status in January

In California, political parties can qualify for statewide ballot status in either of two ways: by voter registration or petition. The number of petition signers needed is 10% of the number of persons who voted in the preceding gubernatorial election. Between 1992 and 2013, the number of registered voters needed was 1% of the number of persons who voted in the preceding gubernatorial election.

In order to qualify in time to participate in the 1992 partisan elections, the period of ballot qualification for the Green Party of California began in January 1990 and extended through December 1991. As of December 31st, 1991, the Green Party of California had 100,897 Green voter registrants, surpassing the 78,992 needed for statewide ballot status, which was 1% of the number of persons who voted in the 1988 gubernatorial election.


1994: The Green Party of California retained statewide ballot status in November

In 1994 and through 2013, a political party in California could retain ballot status in either of two ways – by voter registration or via candidacy in a statewide general election.

The number of registered voters needed to retain ballot status was the same as to qualify for ballot status – 1% of the number of persons who voted in the preceding gubernatorial election. The statewide candidacy method was where the general election nominee of a ballot-qualified  party may retain its ballot status by receiving at least 2% in any of seven statewide partisan Constitutional Office races – Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Controller, Insurance Commissioner.

Margaret Garcia received 3.8% and 315,079 votes for Secretary of State, surpassing the 2% threshold necessary to retain statewide ballot status. Garcia’s total retained ballot status for the Green Party of California, because after the November 1994 election, the number of voters needed to qualify (or re-qualify) went up to 89,007.

Had Garcia not received the total she did, the Green Party of California would have then lost its ballot status as of January 1995, when it had only 78,597 registrants. In October 1995, its total was still only 79,825, and would not be above 89,007 again until September 1996, when it reached 89,106.


1998: The Green Party of California retained statewide ballot status in November

In November 1998, the Green Party had 98,443 registered members, more than the 89,007 needed at that point to retain statewide ballot status.

Sara Amir also received 3.1% and 247,702 votes for Lt. Governor, also surpassing the 2% threshold necessary to retain statewide ballot status. After the November 1998 election, the number of voters needed to qualify (or re-qualify) changed to 86,212. The Green Party of California’s registration total has remained above that threshold (and subsequent tresholds) since.


2002: The Green Party of California retained statewide ballot status in November

As of November 2002, the Green Party had 155,952 registered members, more than the 77,389 needed at that point to retain statewide ballot status.

Six candidates also received more the 2% necessary for the Green Party of California to retain statewide ballot status: Laura Wells received 419,873 votes (5.8%) for Controller; Peter Miguel Camejo received 393,036 votes (5.3%) for Governor; Jeanne Marie Rosenmeier received 356,077 votes (4.9%) for Treasurer, Donna Warren received 307,254 votes (4.2%) for Lt. Governor; Larry Shoup received 282,340 votes (3.9%) for Secretary of State; and David Ishmael Sheidlower received 277,667 votes (3.9%) for Insurance Commissioner.


2006: The Green Party of California retained statewide ballot status in November

As of November 2006, the Green Party had 141,4512 registered members, more than the 74,763 needed at that point to retain statewide ballot status.

Six candidates also received more the 2% necessary for the Green Party of California to retain statewide ballot status: Larry Cafiero received 270,218 (3.2%) for Insurance Commissioner. Laura Wells received 260,047 vote (3.2%) for Controller; Donna Warren received 239,107 (2.8%) for Lt. Governor; Methul Thakker received 201,670 (2.4%) for Treasurer, Peter Miguel Camejo received 205,995 (2.3%)s for Governor; Mike Wyman received 195,130 votes (2.3%) for Attorney General and Forrest Hill received 181,369 (2.2%) for Secretary of State.


2010: The Green Party of California retained statewide ballot status in November

As of November 2010, the Green Party had 113,835 registered members, more than the 86,794 needed at that point to retain statewide ballot status.

Three candidates also received more the 2% necessary for the Green Party of California to retain statewide ballot status: Ann Menasche received 286,701 votes (3%) for Secretary of State; William Balderston received 252,305 votes (2.6%) for Insurance Commissioner and Charles “Kit” Crittenden received 231,165 votes (2.4%) for Treasurer.


2014: The Green Party of California retained statewide ballot status in November

As of November 2014, the Green Party had 110,511 registered members, more than the 58,752 needed at that point to retain statewide ballot status under AB2351  (which the the GPCA opposed for other reasons), which changed the voter registration threshold to retaining statewide registration equaling at least 0.33 percent of the total number of voters registered on the 154th day before the primary election or the 123rd day before the presidential general election. (Elections Code §§ 5100(b), 5151(c).)

Under the new Top Two law passed in June 2010 and implemented starting in 2102, a party may also retain its ballot status by “Having one of its statewide candidates (running for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner, or United States Senator) receive at least 2 percent of the entire vote of the state for that office at the gubernatorial primary election” (Elections Code §§ 5100(a), 5151(b)).

Four candidates also received more the 2% necessary for the Green Party of California to retain statewide ballot status: Ellen Brown received 270,388 votes (6.6%) for Treasurer; Laura Wells received 231,352 votes (5.7%); David Curtis received 121,618 votes (3%) for Secretary of State; and Jena Goodman received 98,338 votes (2.4%) for Lt. Governor.


2018: The Green Party of California retained statewide ballot status in June

In September 2014, the California Election Code was amended under AB2351, such that a party can retain its ballot status if  the sum of the votes cast for all of the candidates for an office voted on throughout the  state (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner, or United States Senator),  who disclosed a preference for that party on the ballot was at least 2 percent of the entire vote of the state  for that office.

In the Secretary of State’s race Michael Feinstein received 136,726 votes (2.1%) and Erik Rydberg received 48,706 votes (0.7%), more than the 2% required to retain ballot status, guaranteeing ballot status for the Green Party of California until 2022.