FREEPORT

It’s easy for Maine to get overshadowed during primary season. Not a Super Tuesday participant and with only a handful of delegates in either party, Maine Republicans and Democrats will caucus this weekend. Smaller still, the Maine Green Independent Party is already about halfway through its slate of 40 caucuses.

“Our caucuses take almost a month from beginning to end,” said Tom MacMillan, the state party’s secretary. “We have to caucus when people are available.”

Member participation is vital because the Green Party is so much smaller compared to the GOP or Democrats, he said.

There are five candidates seeking the Green Party nomination for president.

Party member Rosalie Paul said candidate Jill Stein received unanimous support during the Brunswick Greens Feb. 13 caucus. Stein is a Massachusetts physician who won the nomination in 2012 and garnered just under a half-million votes in the general election — the most a woman has ever received.

The Green Party has a strong connection to Maine. Maine resident John Rensenbrink — who currently lives in Topsham — co-founded the U.S. Green Party in the 1980s.

“Often times Greens are lower income people who have to work many jobs,” MacMillan said. “That’s partly I think what draws a lot of people to the Green Party. They want to see change and they’re in a disadvantaged position already.”

MacMillan noted that the party sees the popularity of insurgent candidates such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Donald Trump as a sign that people are calling for change, “and we feel heartened by how much people are kind of revolting against the two-party system.”

MacMillan said the hope is Sanders supporters will vote Green Party rather than for Hillary Clinton. He said Sanders’ values are closer to those of the Green Party like its message on economic justice.

“The only way things change is when people change; when people make choices to do something different,” MacMillan said.

How the process works

The Green Party caucus is a democratically determined process, MacMillan said, and caucuses are convened by party members in their communities.

There are no super delegates — each person has one vote.

Each caucus can determine how the vote is conducted, usually by a show of hands, but sometimes by secret ballot. The caucus also serves as an organizational meeting for members to elect municipal, county and national committee members and talk about issues important to the party.

Votes will be counted up and added to votes at the state convention May 7 in Belfast and up to that time Green Party members can still request absentee ballots. All Greens are invited to the state convention where they will determine how to apportion delegates to the national convention in Houston, Texas, on Aug. 4-7.

Attendees must be registered members of the party to vote. New and un-enrolled voters can register with the Green Party prior to the caucus voting and a clerk will be on hand. MacMillan noted an actual switch from one party to another must take place 13 days before a caucus to vote.

Participants must vote at a caucus in their town. If someone is unable to attend or there isn’t one scheduled in their town, they can request absentee ballots to be counted at the state party convention, MacMillan said.

Midcoast gatherings

CAUCUSES CAN BE found at www.mainegreens.org and in the Midcoast include:

• Freeport, Thursday, March 3, 7 p.m., town office (registration for new/un-enrolled voters 6-7 p.m.)

• Alna, March 12, Alna town office, 9 a.m.

• Topsham, March 14, 6 p.m., municipal building

• Richmond, March 19, 2 p.m., town office

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