Maine Greens gain registered voters; will hold state convention May 19-20 in BangorMaine Green Independent Party May 10, 2007 Contacts: The Maine Green Independent Party will hold its annual party convention on May 19 and 20 at the Union Street Brick Church, 126 Union Street, in Bangor starting at 9 A.M on Saturday with registration. MAINE -- The Maine Green Independent Party now commands nearly 3% of Maine's registered voters according to figures released by the Maine Secretary of State. This is the highest state Green Party share of voter registration in the United States. Maine Green registration increased 25% in the latest figures while the Democrat and Republican parties remained almost unchanged. Party business will be conducted on Saturday morning and early afternoon while speakers, which include Pat LaMarche, John Rensenbrink, Jonathan Carter, Ruth Gabey and Dave Marshall, will speak between 4 and 6 P.M. At 6:30 that evening an Awards Dinner will be held to honor several special Green Party activists. Betsy Garrold of the Convention Committee said, "The Penobscot Greens are happy to be hosting the annual state party convention in Bangor. As we seek to expand our activism throughout the state having the convention in Bangor enables Greens from northern and eastern Maine to attend it more easily and become more involved in the workings of the party. The Awards Dinner on Saturday night is especially meaningful this year as we will be honoring two prominent green party activists who have recently passed away." Sunday morning will include a pancake breakfast and discussion of the platform and budget. The convention will adjourn at noon. For questions or pre-registration, call Betsy at 568-3302 or e-mail hgarrold@gwi.net. For more state information see: Ballot Access News Back in November 2004, the Maine data was: Democratic 31.17%; Republican 28.07%; Green 2.36%; independent and other parties 38.40%. Thus, between November 2004 and November 2006, major party and independent registration was virtually unchanged, but the Green share increased 25%. The raw data for November 2006 is: Democratic 308,957; Republican 278,887; Green 29,273; independent and other 374,502. Green registration is now almost at 3%. No other state Green Party has ever achieved that large a share of the voter registration.
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