To Jeff, and others,

The SGA administrators were able to correct a previous error which excluded my name from the ballot for open seat (female) Coordinating Committee.  Since this question was addressed to those such candidates, I am taking the liberty to chime in as my name is now on the ballot.  Thanks, again, for fixing the error, admins.

“What can our party do to grow our party’s membership aside from running candidates in elections? Your ideas?”

What a great question!  It’s one my County Council and I ponder quite frequently.  In my own opinion, the single most important factor in drawing in more Greens is to set a good example as a Green yourself.  Seems simple, but this involves having integrity in beliefs and actions, while still having enough flexibility to recognize when it's time to expand from existing beliefs or biases.  This means representing Green Party according to our Ten Key Values, and making sure statements reflect this, whether they are made online, in person, or through other media channels.  What we say and do should be consistent with the Ten Key Values, as well as our Party Platform. Of course, this becomes possible only by knowing and completely understanding the meaning and implications behind our Four Pillars and Ten Key Values. 

Since helping to re-activate the County Council for Green Party of Sacramento, I have participated with the other members of our council, in various events and media spots.  The idea is to establish a presence.  We work together as a team to achieve this, for encouragement and to help each other avoid burn-out!  If there is a march or rally which relates to our key values, you can bet a Sac Green will be there, representing with a banner, or other Green Party regalia.  We have been mentioned in our local news (Sacramento Bee/ Fox40) for just simply being there!  Whether we are tabling at events, or volunteering in the community, we are wearing a GP button, and often have registration forms with us. We are in constant contact with non-partisan groups and coalitions and frequently place our endorsement of Green-valued events, in order for others to see "Green Party of Sacramento County" on different invites. This all helps tremendously just to get the party name out there.  

There are typically at least a couple Greens attending City Council meetings on any given Tuesday, and these meetings are televised.  Speakers from the council will typically introduce themselves as being associated with the party, if they choose. Before speaking on an issue, we always make sure to check the platform to ensure our speech is consistent with the party's stance.

I had the pleasure of guest hosting three weeks in a row on the student radio station for UC Davis (KDVS), where I was given the opportunity to speak as a Green on different issues. This station is a popular choice to left-leaning people in our area.

We make ourselves available for contact to our county Greens on social media and through our email list-serve.  I had also recently obtained a county voter list and am in the process of divvying up the tens of thousands of names with the rest of the council, so that we can reach more of our county greens (if you'd like to know how to get info for your county, contact me).    

Having an active County Council also seems to help tremendously.  Looking at older voter statistics from my county, it seems Green registration was at a high during the count in Oct. 2014 (3,942) and then fell off by quite a bit in later counts. This might coincide with the timing of the last council becoming inactive. Please see the images below, gathered from the California Secretary of State website.  We have seen significant Green Party growth over the process of last year’s election cycle in our county, and had almost 10,000 votes for Jill Stein in the General Election!  Although this may or not be attributed to what we have been doing, having an active council seems to have a positive effect on registration.  We are proud, regardless, even if we are just playing catch-up for now. 

In sum, I feel having a local presence, letting the community know you are there, being available for contact, all while presenting a positive and accurate reflection of the party, is the way to grow.  I, personally, do not like the idea of recruitment and feel that it seems dishonest to go “running after people.” People should come to the party by their own accord when they see we are doing good things and that our ideology reflects theirs.  I feel that many voters/potential voters see through gimmicks and the advertisement-like nature behind the "Bernie Movement" and are looking for more substance. And if they are looking for more substance, we should be looking for them!

Nicole Castor

Co-Coordinator, GP Sacramento County

Candidate for GPCA Coordinating Committee (female)

Sacramento County Greens 2014: 3,942 (0.58%)

Last Count Before the Primary 2016: 3,111

2016 Presidential Election Results Sacramento County: 9,846 (1.8%) Jill Stein