{"id":1401197,"date":"2023-12-19T15:14:20","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T15:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/?p=146711"},"modified":"2023-12-19T15:14:20","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T15:14:20","slug":"california-greens-experience-notable-boost-in-registration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/12\/19\/california-greens-experience-notable-boost-in-registration\/","title":{"rendered":"California Greens Experience Notable Boost in Registration"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Credit: Facebook.com\/cagreens<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

For the first time recorded since January 2016<\/a>, the Green Party of California (GPCA) has more than 100,000 registered members.<\/p>\n

The California Secretary of State\u2019s newest report of voter enrollment numbers, counted 154 days from the March 5, 2024, primary election, shows 101,620<\/a> people have joined the Greens in the Golden State. (There were 102,688<\/a> listed on January 5, 2016.)<\/p>\n

While this is a relatively small figure, it is still important that documents<\/a> on the Secretary of State\u2019s website indicate party enrollment has been rising constantly since July 3, 2020<\/a>, when 79,577<\/a> individuals formally identified as Greens. This report marked the end of a period of decline since October 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Laura Wells, one of two official spokespeople<\/a> for the GPCA, partially attributed the recent growth and once again crossing the 100,000-threshold to \u201cdisgust with the two-party offerings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Biden and what he\u2019s done in the Ukraine and Israel, not to mention Cuba and all sorts of other things, that he has spent billions of dollars [on] and people in this country do not have healthcare, education is worsening, housing is worsening . . . those things are having an effect,\u201d Wells said. \u201cThe Green Party has the values of the Californian and the American people \u2013 peace and nonviolence, justice, the environment, and a real democracy. And we don\u2019t take corporate money.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also granted some credit to the excitement generated by academic and activist Cornel West\u2019s contention for the 2024 Green presidential nomination \u2013 before he shifted<\/a> to an independent campaign. She spoke of the potential the party had with him leading at the nationwide level.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was going to be a brilliant opportunity for the Green Party . . . to get out there and register people to vote \u2013 a big registration drive.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the GPCA\u2019s site touts an ongoing<\/a> drive, Wells was not aware of a large-scale one currently taking place or anticipated in the wake of West\u2019s switch. What has complicated such an effort, Wells claimed, is more people are motivated to go Green when there is a high-profile personality involved with the national party or if ballot access is in question. Moreover, she cited the stigma against Greens as \u201cspoilers\u201d and prominent progressive campaigns within the Democratic Party, such as Bernie Sanders\u2019 and Dennis Kucinich\u2019s, that guide constituents away from the Greens, the latter the likely cause for decreasing totals near the 2020 and 2016<\/a> presidential primaries \u2013 and possibly what had the same impact around the 2004<\/a> and 2008<\/a> contests. (Voting in California Democratic presidential primaries has long required<\/a> signing up as a Democrat or an independent.)<\/p>\n

With the numbers increasing, the electorate\u2019s attitudes towards the party may be changing, and it is on state Greens to continue to capture and maintain interest in their project.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the GPCA still faces challenges, according to Wells, such as a limited budget that restricts their access to voter rolls and ability to reach out directly to Greens. In addition, it needs to recover organizing energy the worst of the pandemic, in part, depleted. In order for the party to recruit more Californians, engage and strategize with entrants whose commitment is flexible so as to prevent departures, and build electoral power from the local level up, anyone in the state dedicated to its vision should offer material assistance now. Through the GPCA website, supporters can donate<\/a> money, learn ways to lend their time<\/a> to the party, and even find a link to register<\/a> Green if they have not already. Sustained service could eventually bring it past its highest totals recorded<\/a> \u2013 166,740<\/a> on September 30, 2003 \u2013 which it is closer to now than it was three years ago. And that service would validate what Wells described as a key reason for going Green: \u201cto grow what you want in the world, not to shrink it, to use every little bit of power that you have.\u201d<\/p>The post California Greens Experience Notable Boost in Registration<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.\n

This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Credit: Facebook.com\/cagreens For the first time recorded since January 2016, the Green Party of California (GPCA) has more than 100,000 registered members. The California Secretary of State\u2019s newest report of voter enrollment numbers, counted 154 days from the March 5, 2024, primary election, shows 101,620 people have joined the Greens in the Golden State. (There [\u2026]<\/p>\n

The post California Greens Experience Notable Boost in Registration<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31402,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[862,36246],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31402"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1401197"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1403466,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401197\/revisions\/1403466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1401197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1401197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1401197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}