(The Center Square) – The Arizona Green Party will be able to run candidates on the ballot once again for the 2024 and 2026 election cycles.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced last week that the party met the signature requirement to qualify after losing their party status in 2019.
“After an extensive review by the Secretary of State’s Office, and by county elections officials across the state, the Green Party has exceeded the minimum signature requirement of 34,127 and has qualified as a new party for federal, statewide, and legislative races in the 2024 Primary and General Elections under Arizona law,” Fontes’ office said in a press release.
However, Fontes said that they will not be able to take part in the presidential primary election in March, because it was not approved in time.
“While the Green Party has qualified to appear on the 2024 Primary and General ballot, they did not file in time to appear on the March Presidential Preference Election (PPE) ballot,” the press release continued.
The development brings the total of official political parties in Arizona to five, including the Libertarian Party and the No Labels Party. The No Labels Party only became recognized in March, according to the secretary of state’s office.
The Arizona Green Party touted the news and thanked their supporters.
“In addition to our official Statewide party recognition, the Green Party has also achieved official County-level political party recognition in both Coconino & Pima Counties,” the party said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Let’s turn AZ GREEN in 2024!” it added.
On the presidential level, Jill Stein is seeking the party’s presidential nomination once again. Well-known activist Cornel West was running under the Green Party, but he is now running for president as an independent, NBC News reported in October.
Third-party candidates do have a reputation for making some impact in races in Arizona as recently as 2022. Although Libertarian Senate nominee Marc Victor dropped out on Nov. 1, 2022, and endorsed Republican nominee Blake Masters, he still won 2.1% of the vote, according to CNN.