Tuesday night this week I worked a polling station for Green Party State Delegate candidate Renaud Brown. As soon as I arrived I met Danny, a volunteer for the Democratic slate for state delegate candidates. Danny and I arrived at the same time and we were the only ones there. 

When some people think about working a polling station on election day  they think of raucous competition to make the last pitch to a constant stream of voters. This was not the case Tuesday night when Danny and I were at Waverly elementary school. It was the two of us and about one or two voters per 3-5 minutes.

Pretty quickly we developed a good and friendly routine. I would greet people with a "Good evening! Vote for Renaud Brown for State Delegate!" Then hand them a card with a warm thank you. Then Danny about 4 feet from me would hand them a card and  say " Vote for Regina Boyce and Elizabeth Embry for State Delegate! You can vote for two." 

Then on their way out Danny and I would thank them and wish them a good evening.

We did this for over two hours so we had a lot of time to talk. The entire discussion was basically about the Green Party, not because I said "Let me tell you about the Green Party" but because Danny, a solid Democrat who is personal friends with several Democrat electeds kept asking questions. 

Danny asked about the Green Candidate Renaud Brown, I told him. He then asked if we had any elected Delegates and I said no, but did explain that Shane Robinson registered as a Green on the way out.

He then told me he really likes Ranked Choice Voting and we had a great conversation about that. He suggested that Greens should focus all their power on Ranked Choice Voting in Maryland. I suggested that we could focus twice our current power on RCV and it wouldn't matter as long as Democrats in Annapolis were opposed to it, and then offered that he as a rank and file Democrat would have a strong voice on this topic , especially within  his delegation, which includes State Senate President Bill Ferguson.

He asked if we could get it done by ballot measure in Baltimore City and I explained  that we can't change our voting system without the General Assembly acting. He asked if we could change it by Ballot Measure at the state level and I said sadly no, we as voters can't make law at the state level in Maryland only the General Assembly can do that. 

We also talked about the way primaries and central committees work in Maryland create a two caste system for political parties in MD. 

At some point Danny Asked me why I was a Green. I explained that I believe that Multiparty Democracy is the only way to get out of the polarization our current system ensures. I explained that I think the current polarized two party trajectory is rapidly accelerating fascism and climate collapse and that the Green Party had values and solutions that I think are needed to counter that.

He generally agreed that more parties are good, that people should have power to petition the government for changes government won't make on their own, and that if parties qualify for the ballot they should all be treated equally. 

Don't get me wrong, he had a lot of concerns about the way that the growth of the Green Party would hurt the Democrats, even if he thought the end goal of Multiparty Democracy was good. But, he had a good understanding and even and empathy  for  why people would choose to be Greens. 

He thanked me for engaging him, having a respectful conversation, and helping him understand how the process works and what Green values are. 

Having conversations in public about the Green Party is a good practice, we have good arguments to make to a variety of people and we should do so without always reverting to antagonism. There are different arguments to make to different people, but we do not need to cede the space of political conversation in any of them.