Up until now, the Maine Green Independent Party has followed the practice of the state's two major parties by allowing only enrolled members to vote in their primaries. But at its State Convention last weekend, the Greens decided to welcome all unenrolled (independents) Maine voters to help decide nominees in Gubernatorial and Legislative contests.
The Green Independent Party currently has 44,000 registered members. On January 2015, there were 367,771 unenrolled registered voters.
That's something that Green Party Co-chair, Gil Harris, says should be attractive to voters who do not identify with a political party and are larger than Democratic (312,812) or Republican (267,976) voters in the state. "There's a growing number of people who have alienated themselves from both of the Maine corporate parties."
During the party's annual convention last weekend, the Greens elected a new state committee, and approved by-law changes that included the primary provision. The change will not extend to the Greens's Presidential selection process, which is conducted through a caucus.
Still, the open primary system adopted by the Greens should provide a higher profile for the party. And that's something some election watchers say is long overdue.
Unenrolled voters should be able to participate in the Party's Primaries beginning next year.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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