Party Qualification
The party achieved its current ballot status in 1998. Previously the Maine Green Party achieved ballot status in 1994 with the Jonathan Carter gubernatorial campaign, but lost it in 1997 after Ralph Nader failed to get 5% of the vote for President in 1996, a requirement of state law that has since changed.
In 1998, Pat LaMarche requalified the political party with her campaign for governor, but under the a new name, the Maine Green Independent Party. LaMarche ran again in 2006 capturing almost 10% of the vote in a five-way race. The campaign's website was indexed by the Library of Congress and won a Golden Dot Award, because of the site's use of new ways to interact with voters.
The party (in terms of registered votes) is currently in a period of continuous growth stretching back to 1998 according to state records,. As of December 4, 2008 there were 31,676 greens in the state comprising 3.19% of the electorate.
Read more about this topic: Maine Green Independent Party
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)