Utah qualifies for ballot line

This was a watershed year of success for the Green Party of Utah. The party ran candidates for 13 offices and received nearly 30,000 votes in an election that saw a low turnout (45 percent).

Wed 01/01/03
by Rob Morrison
GreenPages, Vol 6, No.4

This was a watershed year of success for the Green Party of Utah. The party ran candidates for 13 offices and received nearly 30,000 votes in an election that saw a low turnout (45 percent).

Although no candidates were elected, Greens are now a legally recognized continuing party with automatic ballot access in the 2004 general election.

The party earned its status with more than 14,000 votes garnered by one candidate in Salt Lake County. State law requires at least one candidate to receive 2 percent or more of the total votes cast in congressional races.

Greens learned important lessons from this campaign. For the first time in its seven-year existence, Utah Greens ran candidates at the county, legislative, and congressional levels, receiving between 1 and 17 percent of the vote.

Many candidates received positive media attention and participated in public debates. In 2004 the party plans to run even more candidates, especially at the local level. Utah Greens’ plans include building the party and pursuing instant-runoff voting and clean election campaigns initiatives.