The Green Party's candidate for Illinois Governor is going to run as write-in candidate after failing to get on the ballot for the November election. It's been eight years since the party received enough votes to be classified as a major party.
Back in 2006, the Illinois Green Party's candidate for governor pulled more than 10 percent of the vote. That leap to "established party" status for the following election meant they had fewer legal hurdles to clear to get on the ballot. But in 2010, their candidate had only three percent of the vote, relegating the Greens once again to third party status. Chris Mooney directs the Institute for Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois. He says it's rare that third parties will find success anywhere in the U.S.:
"The American political system is not designed to foster third parties. You know we're not the Netherlands, where they get 27 different parties or something, it's just not what our political system is like."
This year, the Greens hit a wall. Despite turning in a high number of signatures beyond the requirement, Democrats successfully challenged the petitions, and they didn't make the ballot. Green Party gubernatorial hopeful Scott Summers is going to attempt to run as a write-in candidate.