Arizona Green Party
Encyclopedia
The Green Party of Arizona is the affiliate of the Green Party
Green Party (United States)
The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...

 in Arizona. It was founded by Carolyn Campbell and others in the 1990s.

The Arizona Green Party is perhaps best known for its strong stances on immigration. It proposes that the urban walls on the border be dismantled and the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...

 (NAFTA) repealed for the sake of the thousands of immigrants who die while trying to cross the border. The AZGP also paid to put two statements in an Arizona voter's guide on ballot initiatives and referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

s in 2006. One statement opposed Arizona Proposition 107, which bans civil unions and the second favored Arizona Proposition 202, which raises the Arizona minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...

 to $6.75/hr.

In 2006 the Arizona Green Party and the Pima County Green Party hosted the 2006 annual national meeting of the Green Party of the United States in Tucson, Arizona.

The Arizona Greens had a 5 percent increase in registered members between November 2008 and April 2009, to 4,210 voters.

Ballot access

In 2008, the Arizona Green Party gathered enough signatures to gain ballot access . The party had worked with Arizona's ballot access laws, achieving ballot access for the 2000 election cycle, then losing it again in 2004. On March 6, 2008 the Arizona deadline for ballot access, the Arizona Green Party submitted 29,300 signatures on its petition for party recognition. The legal requirement is 20,449. On April 9, 2008 the Arizona Secretary of State announced that the Arizona Green Party had enough valid signatures to be recognized as an official political party. On February 10, The national Green Party’s ballot access committee had appropriated $4,000 to assist the Arizona Green Party's petition effort.

The Arizona Green Party again qualified for the ballot in 2010 on April 15. It needed 20,449 signatures by March 11, 2010, and they tuned in 29,015 signatures to the Arizona Secretary of State.

On April 28, 2011, Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2304, which says that when a new party qualifies, it is entitled to be on the ballot in the next two elections, not just the next election. As a result the Green Party is now automatically on the ballot for 2012, because it had successfully petitioned in 2010.

Campaigns

Prominent Green candidates in Arizona have included Vance Hansen, who ran for the US Senate in 2000 and received 108,926 votes, Claudia Ellquist
Claudia Ellquist
Claudia Ellquist is a retired attorney and co-chair of both the Arizona Green Party and the Green Party of Pima County. Ellquist ran for Pima County Attorney in 2004, receiving 23,028 votes for 7.64% of the total vote . Her campaign focused mainly on a four-year moratorium of the death...

 who ran for Pima
Pima County, Arizona
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*74.3% White*3.5% Black*3.3% Native American*2.6% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.7% Two or more races*12.4% Other races*34.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

 County Attorney
County attorney
A county attorney in many areas of the United States is the chief legal officer for a county or local judicial district. It is usually an elected position...

 in 2004 on a platform largely focused on declaring a moratorium
Moratorium (law)
A moratorium is a delay or suspension of an activity or a law. In a legal context, it may refer to the temporary suspension of a law to allow a legal challenge to be carried out....

 on the death penalty, and Dave Croteau who ran for mayor of Tucson in 2007 on a platform of relocalization and received over 28% of the vote. The party is also home to noted Tucson area water-access activist John Kromko
John Kromko
John Kromko is a former Arizona state legislator. He served in the legislature from 1976 to 1990. He was instrumental in forcing several progressive reforms in the state despite its government being dominated by Republicans by repeatedly using the state's initiative process...

.

External links

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