Pinal County Greens are happy to help the Arizona Green Party achieve ballot status in the 2012 elections. Please read this memo from our Arizona Green Party co-chair Angel Torres:
Hola todos! Hope that 2011 has been good to you and your relations. The Arizona Green Party (AZGP) has achieved ballot status four times in our nearly 21-year history: 1992, 2000, 2008 and 2010. Our goal is to now achieve ballot status for 2012. By doing so, we would achieve ballot status for 3 consecutive elections, as well as reaching this goal for the fifth time. Now, to borrow a phrase from the sports world, we want to “Get One for the Thumb”! Volunteers have already begun to collect signatures for our ballot status petition drive for the 2012 elections, and we are asking YOU (yes, YOU) to be one of our volunteers.
As in the previous two election cycles, we need to collect at least 21,000 valid signatures of registered Arizona voters on our petitions for ballot status. We always set a goal of collecting at least 30,000 petition signatures (to account for signatures that may be invalidated by the county elections offices).
In order to accomplish our goal in a timely fashion, we need to recruit at least 100 volunteers to assist with this effort. We are only asking YOU to collect 15 signatures (one page) per week. At 1500 signatures per week, it should take us about 5 months to accomplish our goal. Obviously, with more volunteers we can accomplish our goal quicker and easier. With fewer volunteers, it will take longer and become more difficult. For the 2008 and 2010 elections, it took us until the final deadline (March) to get all our signatures collected. We would like to get this done ASAP for the 2012 elections. This will give us more time to focus on recruiting viable, quality Green Party candidates for 2012.
We already have printed copies of the Petition for Political Party Recognition. Any registered Arizona voter (not just Greens) may sign our petition. And, our volunteers (petition circulators) must also be a registered Arizona voter. But, they do not have to be registered Green. So, if you have friends, family members, co-workers or neighbors that want to assist us collecting signatures—FANTASTIC! As a matter of fact, these are the folks that you should first ask to sign our petitions. Make sure they fill it out completely (signature, printed name, residential address where registered, date of signing), or their signature will not count. Once the petition is completely filled out, complete the instructions on the back page (with your name, signature, and residential address where registered). If we emphasize a little “quality control”, it will minimize the numbers of signatures that the county elections offices will attempt to invalidate. Please use black or blue ink pens for the signatures (no pinks, purples, pencils, etc).
An IMPORTANT note: the ballot status petitions are county-specific. So, only registered Maricopa County voters should sign a petition for Maricopa County; only Yavapai County voters should sign a petition for Yavapai County, etc. Again, this requires a little “quality control” when soliciting signatures. YOU should first “qualify” the potential signer by asking “Are you a registered voter in Maricopa (or Yavapai, Pinal, etc) County?” Some of our printed petitions are blank (so that you can write in the specific county), and some of the petitions have the county name printed/typed in (for example: Maricopa).
Volunteers have already begun to collect signatures in Maricopa and Pima County. However, we need YOU (yes, YOU) to reach our minimum goal of 100 volunteers. We are only asking you to collect 15 signatures (one page) per week. If you are nervous, or have never collected signatures, that’s OK! We like to petition in pairs, so as to build TEAMWORK! It’s easier (and more fun) to petition with a fellow Green/volunteer. When collecting ballot status petition signatures, we also use the opportunity to educate folks about the Green Party (who we are, the Ten Key Values, our platform, etc).
The Arizona Green Party (AZGP) has another long-term goal: Permanent Ballot Status! As of January 1st (according to the Arizona Secretary of State) we now have 5,040 registered Green Party members in Arizona. In order for us to achieve permanent ballot status (and not have to collect ballot status petition signatures every two years), we will need to quadruple our registered Greens to at least 20,000. As we are collecting signatures and informing others about the Green Party, we should also be encouraging interested folks to register as new Green Party members. During the past 2 years, we have added 1,000 new Green Party members! One of our goals is to register 1,000 new Greens during 2011. Are you willing to assist us in this effort?
In anticipation of achieving ballot status for next year, we will also begin to recruit Green Party candidates for the 2012 elections! We are recruiting candidates for non-partisan races (school boards and city/town council), county offices (Board of Supervisors, etc), state legislature and statewide office (Corporation Commission) and U.S. Congress. We are looking for viable, quality candidates that will best represent the Arizona Green Party (AZGP), our platform and the issues we support.
You may be asking yourself “Where can I collect signatures?” Some good locations include: farmers’ markets, your local library, community festivals, art walks (First Friday in downtown Phoenix), university or college campuses, etc. Try to find a public location with lots of “foot traffic”. Talk to your local independent coffeehouse or bookstore manager to see if they will give you permission to petition. Also, check your local newspaper, New Times, College Times, etc. for possible events/locations.
So, are YOU ready to be one of our 100 volunteers? Are you ready to WOMAN-UP/MAN-UP? If so, just call our AZGP voicemail at (602) 417-0213. You may also send us an e-mail at info@azgp.org. Just leave us your name, phone number and/or e-mail address, and your U.S. Mail address. We will send you a packet that includes the Petition for Political Party Recognition, Green Party literature (so you can answer questions), and blank voter registration forms. When filled out, mail all petitions (and any new Green voter registration forms) to: Arizona Green Party (AZGP), P.O. Box 60173, Phoenix, AZ 85082. You may also drop off completed petitions and Green Party voter registration forms at our monthly Green Party meetings. Visit http://azgp.org or http://maricopagreens.org for our meeting schedule and locations (or call our voicemail).
