The Green Party of California (GPCA) is the California affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. The party is a ballot-qualified in California, first established as such in 1991, using the petition method of gaining state recognition.
As of May 2012, there were 110,724 registered party members accounting for 0.65 percent of registered voters in California, a drop from seven years prior, when the party had 158,000 members, for 0.95 percent of registered voters. Mendocino, Santa Cruz, and Humboldt County have the highest per-capita number of Green Party members.
To maintain qualified status in California, a party must have registered voters equal to or more than 1 percent of the number of votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election, or by the statewide race method, according to which a party may retain its ballot status by receiving at least 2 percent in any of seven statewide races.
In 1994 Margaret Garcia received 3.8 percent (315,079 votes) for Secretary of State, surpassing the 2 percent 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 (Green registrants stood at 78,992). Had Garcia not received the total she did, the Green Party of California would have lost its ballot status as of January 1995.
Since the 1994 elections, the party has had continuous ballot access in California.
In 1996 Arcata, California, a city with a population of about 17,000, became the first city ever to have a Green majority on the city council, with three of five seats. Greens controlled the council from 1996–1998 and again from 2004-2006.
In November 2009, Fairfax, California gained a Green majority in city council, winning three out of five seats. And as of December 2009, at least 33 Green Party of California members hold elected office, including Mayor of Richmond (Richmond Greens), Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of Sebastopol, Larry Robinson, Mayor of Marina, Bruce Delgado and Mayor of Fairfax, Lew Tremaine.
Famous quotes containing the words green, party and/or california:
“Men like my father cannot die. They are with me still real in memory as they were in flesh. Loving and beloved forever. How green was my valley then.”
—Philip Dunne (1908–1992)
“No political party can ever make prohibition effective. A political party implies an adverse, an opposing, political party. To enforce criminal statutes implies substantial unanimity in the community. This is the result of the jury system. Hence the futility of party prohibition.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Resorts advertised for waitresses, specifying that they “must appear in short clothes or no engagement.” Below a Gospel Guide column headed, “Where our Local Divines Will Hang Out Tomorrow,” was an account of spirited gun play at the Bon Ton. In Jeff Winney’s California Concert Hall, patrons “bucked the tiger” under the watchful eye of Kitty Crawhurst, popular “lady” gambler.”
—Administration in the State of Colo, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)