Following Jordan Willow Evans’ March 6 post in Independent Political Report on California’s Green Party presidential primary, the California Secretary of State has certified the results of that election as well as other races.
It was already clear Jill Stein had won the presidential poll because she was the only candidate listed on the ballot, an outcome controversial with other Greens seeking the nomination. Ultimately, she received 15,801 votes, which qualified her for all 56 delegates from the Golden State to the national party’s presidential nominating convention.
Three write-in contenders obtained certification from the Secretary of State to have their votes counted. Jorge Zavala and Matthew Pruden each finished with three votes while one person wrote in Daví. They did not earn any delegates. According to section 2-2.2 of “Rules and Procedures of the Green Party of California,” a campaigner would have had to come away with “a number of votes . . . at least equal to the number of total votes cast for President in the primary divided by the total number of GPCA delegates” to collect a single delegate for the “first round convention vote.” That number would be around 282. The write-in competitors fell far below that threshold. In addition, per section 2-2.4, the sum of the votes for candidates without delegates of their own, unless such a candidate were to abstain from the process, could make “None of the Above” eligible for a delegate if it passed the aforementioned threshold. But it did not.
What is notable about the final tally is, while just one person secured ballot access, there were more votes cast in this race (15,808) than in the previous two, when more contenders participated. In 2020, six campaigners, including a write-in, altogether netted 11,612 votes. In 2016, five collectively took in 14,700.
These variations are largely consistent with the differences in voter registration 15 days before each primary over the last three cycles. On February 20, 2024, there were 102,659 Californians enrolled as Greens. On the other hand, as of February 18, 2020, the state recorded 83,281 voters as Greens. And by May 23, 2016, 77,868 people counted themselves as Greens. The differences can be explained by the lack of a viable progressive running in the concurrent Democratic contest in 2024, whereas Bernie Sanders ran in 2020 and 2016. More Greens maintained their registration and got a corresponding ballot.
The tabulation displays votes from all 58 of California’s counties, too. 49 counties saw an increase in votes from either the 2020 or 2016 primaries. 27 counties showed more votes than in 2016 and 25 counties improved on both years. Humboldt County marked the most significant growth in terms of percentage when contrasted with one of the prior races, bringing 89.6% more votes in than in 2020.
There were 24 counties where a boost in votes from both 2020 and 2016 was tied with the rise in enrollment from those years and there were 5 counties where the tally rose from at least one year despite a decline in registration from that same year, notably including Humboldt County. Nevertheless, there were 22 counties in which the votes decreased from a previous year or remained the same even though the number of recorded Greens climbed from that year, indicating a lack of perfect coordination between ballots cast and party enrollment.
The Green primary season continues with a mix of party- and government-administered contests. In line with the instructions of the national party, Jill Stein would need “a simple majority of the voting delegates” at the convention to pick her in order to become the nominee. The online convention is scheduled to take place from August 15 through 18.
Disclosure: This author is a regular contributor to the Green Party of California and is also a donor to and volunteer for Jill Stein’s 2024 presidential campaign.
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