Green Party in Illinois

The Illinois Green Party (ILGP) achieved an important goal in the November 7 election when their gubanatorial slate of Rich Whitney and Julie Samuels pulled 10.4 percent of the statewide vote, and in some counties over 25% of the vote. Not only were the numbers respectable in themselves, but more important, by pulling more than 5 percent of the popular vote the party attained "major party" status. This means that for future electoral campaigns, the number of signatures that must be collected to get on the ballot is much much lower. So this past week's results mean that it the door is open at least through 2010 for the Greens to run more candidates. Major party status also carries some responsibilities, like conforming to local structures and primary procedures (so "committeemen" and local central committees).

The ILGP post-election newsletter points out that where the media coverage was the fairest, the Greens did the best. The Rockford Register Star endorsed Whitney, and he pulled 24 percent of the vote in that county.

More info is on the ILGP web page.


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