Three Green Party candidates are running in Urbana's 2009 municipal election:

• Durl Kruse for Mayor - electkruse.org
• Mark Mallon for City Council, ward 2 - electmallon.org
• Gary Storm for City Council, ward 7 - electstorm.org

Check out their websites and watch this space for more news and information about their campaigns.

Our candidates have received a number of endorsements as well as other support from local citizens and groups.

Joe Futrelle has been endorsed by

• The News-Gazette
• Danielle Chynoweth, former Urbana City Council Member
• Belden Fields, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois
• Chip Burkhardt, professor emeritus of history at the University of Illinois, and Jayne Burkhardt, attorney

Futrelle has also received support from the AFL-CIO.

Mike Lehman has been endorsed by AFSCME and has received support from the AFL-CIO.

Walter Pituc has been endorsed by Kostas Yfantis, former candidate for Champaign County Board in district 7, and has also received support from the AFL-CIO.

Vote Green on November 4th!

Our new TV ad is here, featuring all three of our county board candidates: Mike Lehman, Joe Futrelle, and Walter Pituc.

You can watch it here and it is running on local TV up until the election.

The more you donate, the more times we can run this ad! Click here to donate:

Thanks to Pat Schmitz for excellent volunteer camera and production work.

The Illinois primary date is anticipated to be moved to February 5th from March 20th.  This should make the petitioning period for established parties August 5th to November 5th, 2007.

Incumbents and estimated signature requirements for Green candidates:

Congressional Districts

• 15 - Tim Johnson (R) - est. 169 signatures

State Senate Districts

• 53 - Dan Rutherford (R) - 1,000 signatures

State House Districts (2006)

• 103 - Naomi D. Jakobsson (D) - 500 signatures
• 104 - Bill Black (R) - 500 signatures
• 105 - Shane Cultra (R) - 500 signatures
• 110 - Chapin Rose (R) - 500 signatures

County Elected Offices

• Auditor Tony Fabri (D) - est. 45 signatures
• Circuit Clerk Linda S. Frank (R) - est. 45 signatures
• Coroner Duane E. Northrup (R) - est. 45 signatures
• Recorder Barbara A. Frasca (R) - est. 45 signatures
• State's Attorney Julia R. Rietz (D) - est. 45 signatures

County Board

9 districts, 3 members each. Twelve of all seats up, as follows.  Petition requirements are estimated to be less than 8 signatures per district:

• 1 - John D. Jay (R)
• 1 - Lawrence D. Sapp (R)
• 2 - Ronald Bensyl (R)
• 3 - Scott Tapley (R)
• 4 - Stanley S. O'Conner (R)
• 5 - Lloyd Carter, Jr. (D)
• 5 - Catherine Hogue (D)
• 6 - Claudia Gross (D)
• 7 - Janet Anderson (D)
• 7 - Carl Weibel (D)
• 8 - Jennifer Putman (D)
• 9 - Brendan McGinty (D)

David Cobb, former Green presidential candidate, described the Green Party as the electoral arm of a growing movement in this country for peace, social justice, and environmental protection. The Prairie Greens would like to see Greens elected to office at every level to put into place the Ten Key Values of the Green Party.

To register to vote and find your polling place, visit www.champaigncountyclerk.com.

There is no party registration in the state of Illinois and primaries are open to all voters. Because the Green Party is an established party across Illinois, voters will be able to vote in a Green Party primary in the spring of 2008.