The two candidates who will appear on the Arizona Green Party’s primary ballot in the state’s Senate race are allegedly being boosted by the major political parties. Meanwhile, the Green Party’s own preferred candidate failed to meet the state’s signature requirement to appear on the ballot, prompting a write-in push by the party.
The state’s Green Party, a liberal group with just about 3,000 registered voters, suspects that one candidate for its nomination, Arturo Hernandez, is being boosted by Republicans and that the other, Mark Norton, is actually supported by Democrats.
“We have been suspicious of both of these people since the day they filed because we know our Greens,” said Arizona Green Party co-chair Cody Hannah. “We’re a small group. When somebody random jumps onto the primary ballot and starts collecting signatures, it sets off alarm bells.”
Hannah says that neither candidate has been a volunteer, officer or dues-paying member of the Green Party.
The Green Party rejects both candidates on its July 30primary ballot and is urging its members to write in Green Party of Pima County Chairperson Eduardo Quintana, who did not gather enough signatures in time to officially make the ballot.