None of the Above and the Green Party of California

The Green Party of California (GPCA) has a long and varied history with None of the Above (NOTA), from winning the right to use it in the party's primary elections after gaining ballot status in January 1992, to losing it in court in 1995,  to opposing an initiative that would have established it as a non-binding general election option.

Soon after gaining ballot status in January 1992, the GPCA sued for the rights to have its own election rules and was awarded the right to use NOTA in its primary elections by the court. In the June 1992 primary, Green state assembly candidate Roger Donaldson lost to NOTA on purpose, after sending this letter to Greens, asking them to vote for NOTA instead of him.

In 1994 NOTA received the most votes for Governor, finishing ahead of three other candidates. A vigorous Friends of Nobody campaign was waged that year in favor of NOTA and one of the three Green gubernatorial candidates John Selawsky supported NOTA and used his ballot statement to advocate for a vote for it. Then in 1995 NOTA was taken away by the courts upon appeal by the state of California in Green Party of California vs. Jones.

In 2000 the GPCA was the official signatory for the 'no' argument against a statewide proposition to establish a non-binding none of the above option in the general election, arguing that reforms instant run-off voting and proportional representation would give voters real choices and more power.