Green Party presidential candidate Stein files to be on Iowa ballot

CEDAR RAPIDS - Presumptive Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has accomplished something Hillary Clinton hasn't. She's filed the paperwork to be on the general election ballot in Iowa.

The Green Party has submitted paperwork for Stein to be on the Nov. 8 ballot, according to the Iowa Secretary of State Office.

Before her name and the name of her running mate human rights activist Ajamu Baraka, go on the ballot, the 2,140 signatures submitted must be verified. SOS spokesman Kevin Hall said no irregularities have been found, but the verification won't be complete until after the filing period for federal candidates closes Aug. 19. Challenges may be filed until Aug. 26.

Officially, Stein won't be the Green nominee until the roll call of delegates at the party's national convention in Houston later this week.

So far, Republican nominee Donald Trump and Stein are the only presidential candidates who have submitted the necessary paperwork, Hall said. He expects Clinton's to arrive before the end of the week.

For Stein and other candidates nominated by non-political party organizations to get on the ballot, they must submit at least 1,500 signatures of voters in at least 10 counties. The GOP and Democratic parties have ballot status based on having won at least 2 percent of the vote in the most recent gubernatorial or presidential election.

The Greens achieved ballot status in 2000 when their presidential candidate, consumer activist Ralph Nader, received 29,374 votes or 2.2 percent of the total votes cast for president that year.

However, the Iowa Green Party lost ballot status after its candidate for governor did not receive 2 percent of the total votes cast in the 2002 election.

Stein, whose policy proposals include single-payer health care, tuition-free public education and creating jobs in renewable energy, hopes to win the support of progressives, including supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and voters with unfavorable views of both major party candidates.

'We know how Bernie's campaign ended but I was one of his supporters that just cannot bring myself to support either Clinton or Trump,” said former Sanders supporter Shawn Ketcham of Cedar Rapids.

Linda Hagge of Ames said she's supporting Stein 'because the Green Party has become the sole voice of progressive politics in the United States.”

For more on Stein, visit, http://www.jill2016.com/.