STATS AND FIGURES Maine: the greenest state BY SAM PFEIFLE

As of November, 2004, Maine’s Secretary of State’s office has announced that we have 24,155 registered Green Party members. Doesn’t sound like much, admittedly, and it only accounts for 2.36 percent of registered voters, but in the grand scheme of things, it makes Maine the greenest per capita state in the country.

Green Party historian Mike Feinstein on July 20 released a compilation and analysis of data regarding Green voters across the country and since 1996. Nationally, registered Greens have gone from 94,033 to 317,765 voters. However, very few states are growing their numbers currently: for instance, traditional strongholds Alaska and California have seen their numbers decrease. Alaska has dropped from 1.05 percent in October of ’02 to .89 percent this past April; California has dropped from 1.09 percent in January of ’04 to .95 percent this past April.

"There is cause for real concern in some of the key states that have been around for a long time," notes Feinstein "in particular AK, CA, NM, and OR.

"Each of these states, for many years, has been seen as a place of Green strength. But today in each of them, there has been a significant drop from their highest point to where they are today — AK (15.2 percent drop), CA (12.8 percent), NM (28.3 percent) and OR (17.9 percent).

"In the other two strongest voter registration states, DC has seen a smaller drop (five percent), while Maine continues to grow, and now is at its highest point ever."

The 2006 gubernatorial elections will be an interesting indicator of whether the Green Party will continue to grow in Maine, or will follow the pattern of these other traditionally Green states.