Under state law, the Green Party, Libertarians, and every other non-“principal” party are locked out of publicly financed primaries — then expected to compete in the general election against candidates the state helped nominate.
By MDBayNews Staff
Every Maryland voter pays for the June 23 primary. Only voters registered with the Democratic or Republican parties get to use it.
That is not an accident of administration. It is the structure of Maryland law. The state code designates Democrats and Republicans as “principal” parties and reserves taxpayer-funded primary elections exclusively for them. Every other party — Green, Libertarian, or otherwise — must run its own nominating process, on its own timeline, with its own money.
The Green Party of Maryland will conduct exactly that: a party-run nominating convention running July 8 through 22 to select its candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Andy Ellis, who is seeking the Green nomination for Governor alongside running mate Owen Silverman Andrews, confirmed the process in a statement released on primary day.
“The primaries are a taxpayer-subsidized party-building tool for the Democrats and Republicans. In Maryland’s two-tier system of parties, non-principal parties like the Green Party have to run their own nomination process.”
— Andy Ellis, Green Party candidate for Governor
The accountability question is structural. Maryland’s unaffiliated voter population has grown faster than either major party’s registration base in recent years — a documented trend in a state where voters increasingly decline to affiliate with either principal party. The two-tier primary system does not reflect that shift. What it reflects is a legal framework written by the two parties who benefit from it.
The barriers compound beyond the primary. Third parties face petition signature thresholds to qualify for the general election ballot, exclusion from publicly funded debate formats, and campaign finance rules calibrated to major-party scale. The primary exclusion is the most visible element of a layered system that treats “principal” party status as a precondition for civic infrastructure — not just competitive advantage.
Ellis is making himself available to media throughout primary day to discuss both the Green Party process and what the Democratic and Republican primary outcomes mean for the general election — an acknowledgment that even candidates outside the funded system have standing to analyze the race that system is designed to produce.
“No matter who is elected,” Ellis said in his statement, “more and more Marylanders are losing trust in the two parties and their politicians.” Whether that sentiment translates into third-party viability in November is a separate question. Whether the state should be funding the infrastructure that forecloses the alternative is not.
The Green Party’s July nominating window means its general election candidates will be identified roughly six weeks after the major-party nominees are confirmed — a structural lag that compounds the resource and visibility disadvantages built into the system upstream.
Andy Ellis is available for media contact through the Green Party campaign. More information at GoGreen2026.com. MDBayNews covers Maryland civic accountability across all parties and branches of government.
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