Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein speaks at the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus on Oct. 7, 2024. She is accompanied by Kwame Che Shakur (left) and Faisal Khan with Carolina Peace Center (right). (Photo by Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star)
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein said the days of voting against one’s conscience are numbered because states like Maine are adopting ranked choice voting.
“If you also want to cast a lesser evil vote — if you can figure out who the lesser evil is — you can have whatever kind of vote you want,” Stein said, “but just ensure that your number one vote is to stop genocide.”
Stein described a vote for either of the major party candidates — Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump — as a vote for genocide during a panel discussion at the University of Southern Maine in Portland on Monday, which marked one year since Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, murdering more than 1,000 civilians, taking hundreds prisoner and igniting an all-but-declared regional war and a deadly Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that the U.S. has failed to halt despite months of ceasefire negotiations.
In addition to condemning Israel’s actions, Stein used the event to underscore how Maine’s voting system offers a pathway for an alternative future, on the issue of the war in Gaza, among others.
Ranked choice voting
Stein, a doctor, also previously ran for president as Green Party nominee in 2012 and 2016, finishing fourth in both elections. Some Democrats partially blamed Stein for the outcome of the 2016 election, when Trump won, arguing that she spoiled the race by garnering votes in key swing states that might have otherwise gone to Hillary Clinton — a claim that Stein has disputed.
In Maine, the so-called spoiler effect is mitigated by ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to indicate which candidate is their first choice, second choice, and so on. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes on election night, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and their votes get reassigned to whomever their voters ranked second. This process is repeated until one candidate wins a majority of votes.
Maine was the first state to adopt ranked-choice voting in 2016, but it has gained popularity in recent years as more states and municipalities have adopted the practice. Maine voters will be using ranked-choice voting up and down the ballot this November to rank their preferred candidates for office, from legislators to the president.
Maine Coalition for Palestine has cited ranked choice voting in assuaging concerns about a vote for their preferred write-in candidate for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, Surrey resident Diana Merenda.
Merenda, an unenrolled write-in candidate, is running as an anti-war alternative to the major party candidates, much like Stein. Merenda told the Ellsworth American that her opposition to Israel’s actions, which she also called genocidal, is a main part of her platform.
The coalition is urging people to write in Merenda instead of the two candidates who will appear on the ballot for CD-2, incumbent U.S Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, and Republican Austin Theriault, who is a current state legislator.
In a statement released on Monday, the coalition criticized Theriault for parroting the typical Republican talking point that Israel has a right to defend itself, as well as Golden for not speaking out against Israel’s actions, including his vote in favor of a resolution condemning President Joe Biden’s decision to pause weapons shipments to Israel. The latter had also been the focus of a protest organized by Maine-based pro-Palestinian groups during Golden’s remarks at the Maine Democratic Party Convention in June.
Stein said on Monday that she also sees the political actions modeled by Mainers as key for breaking down current power structures.
“The days of the political elites are numbered because cities like Portland, Maine here adopted a divestment structure,” Stein said, referring to the Portland City Council passing a resolution in September urging the city to divest from companies doing business with Israel.
Stein applauded the efforts of the Maine Coalition for Palestine, an organization of about 17 Maine-based groups, some of whom joined her in discussion on Monday. The Maine Students for Palestine, one of the coalition members, announced at the event the latest of their efforts — a petition calling on the University of Maine’s Board of Trustees to divest from Israel and companies doing business with Israel.
While Stein emphasized that Maine’s electorate is currently ripe for making cracks in the two-party system, the state has been an incubator for Green Party politics from the start.
The late John Rensenbrink, former professor at Bowdoin College, is credited with co-founding the Maine Green Party, which was the first state party in the country, and later the U.S. Green Party. Today the party boasts roughly 37,000 registered members in Maine.
Stein’s day one promises
If elected, Stein vowed to end the war in Gaza on day one.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein urges Mainers to use ranked-choice voting as a path to grow third party support. (Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star)
“On day one, we will end this conflict once and for all because Israel is a proxy,” Stein said. “They are a proxy of the United States. The U.S. is in firm control. We can shut this down with a single phone call.”
Also on day one, the Green Party candidate said she would instruct the U.S. Department of Justice to take the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation to court for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which the U.S. established in 1938 to reduce the influence of foreign propaganda.
Among her other priorities are banning nuclear weapons and creating a global Green New Deal, the need for which she said has been underscored by Hurricane Helene, which devastated the Southeast states and killed at least 231 people.
“We can’t simply try to pick up the pieces after the fact,” Stein said. “We have to start heeding the warnings and stop ginning up more and more fossil fuels.”
Stein said the U.S. should be spending its money — and that which it continues to send Israel — on pressing matters such as addressing climate change instead.
“We’re told to think that we’re powerless and that we are a nuisance, that we should shut up and sit down and go away because we are far too small and insignificant to impact our political future,” Stein said. “Well, hello, democracy is about everyone standing up with the right to vote for who we want, not to take marching orders from the economic and political elites.”
Elected officials in Maine speak out on Oct. 7 anniversary
Maine’s elected officials marked the anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel with a range of statements. While many broadly condemned the violence, several took the opportunity to call for specific policy action.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, a Democrat, urged the safe return of the remaining hostages but also called for a ceasefire.
“For the hostages that remain in Gaza, for the humanitarian aid that’s so desperately needed, we *must* achieve a ceasefire, and take the first, meaningful steps towards deescalating this horrific conflict,” Pingree wrote on social media. “Today, we look back in mourning on the brutal and tragic events of October 7 — while calling on all parties to do what’s necessary to achieve a real, lasting peace.”
Pingree is the only member of Maine’s Congressional delegation that has publicly called for a ceasefire. She is also the only to mention the deaths of Palestinian’s in her statement on the Oct. 7 anniversary.
“Tragically, the violence we saw on October 7 has only escalated,” Pingree wrote. “To date, 40,000 Gazans have lost their lives—most of them women and children. Now, a new war has erupted in Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican, called for the U.S. to continue to support Israel on Monday.
“We must continue to support the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel, in its quest to eliminate Hamas and secure its borders from all terrorist threats,” Collins wrote in a statement. “It’s not only in the interest of the surrounding region, but also in the interest of America and the world.”
Collins also drew attention to more recent violence from Hamas, pointing to Israel’s confirmation in September of the deaths of six more hostages.
“Today, let us come together as we remember and honor the lives lost and pray for the safe return of those still held hostage by the Hamas terrorists,” Collins wrote.
Collins also called out a need to combat rising antisemitism, also a focus of the statement released by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills on Monday. Describing it as a deeply troubling trend, Mills wrote there is no place in Maine for harassment, intimidation, or hatred of any kind.
“No matter how you feel about the conflict in the Middle East — and Maine people hold strong and differing views — let us express those views respectfully and remember that we are one state, one community where our neighbors deserve to feel safe and respected,” Mills wrote. “Today, and every day, let us all recommit to building a state where hatred has no safe harbor.”
Golden did not call for specific policy action in a statement he issued about the anniversary. Rather, he focused on remembrance and hope for the return of remaining hostages.
“Today, we remember the innocent men, women and children killed in the Hamas terrorist attack one year ago today — the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Golden wrote. “We also offer our strength to those still reeling from such senseless loss, and prayers and resolve for the safe return of the remaining hostages.”
Meanwhile, Golden’s challenger, Theriault, called for the U.S. to stand by Israel in a social media post on Monday.
“America must always stand strong with Israel, our great ally, in the face of terror and evil,” Theriault wrote.
U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent, did not release a statement on the Oct. 7 anniversary.
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