The Green Party of New Orleans isn’t officially endorsing any mayoral or city council candidates, though the majority of Greens polled support LaToya Cantrell for mayor.

The party discussed their recommendations at their regular meeting Tuesday. Since none of the candidates running are registered as Green, the Green Party isn’t officially endorsing them, said local party president Bart Everson.

“We’re trying to build a tradition and a network. So we need to be consistent, and give a recommendation with each election,” he said.

The only Green candidate in this year’s elections was Danil Faust, who was knocked off the ballot in July by Civil Court Judge Nakisha Ervin-Knott. Faust was disqualified for qualifying as a Green party candidate when he was registered as a Democrat.

He was running against Arthur Morrell for Clerk of Criminal District Court.

The party created a Facebook poll to measure members’ voting tendencies. The majority of participants said they’re planning to vote for Cantrell, though some mentioned they hadn’t researched all the candidates yet. Everson said a recommendation – rather than an endorsement – just shows who party members are more inclined to support.

Cantrell, the current City Council District B representative, emerged from Mid-City after Hurricane Katrina as a community activist, Everson said.

“She’s really good at getting people to work together and getting things done,” he said. “I was just impressed with her.”

Instead of basing support off a poll, party member Neil Ranu suggested scoring each candidate on three or four Green ideas. Candidates who meet the Green’s top four priorities would gain the most amount of support, Ranu said.

Other members approved of the idea, but it was mostly ruled out due to the time and effort needed to create such a scorecard.

The group also discussed the Coroner’s race, in which current Coroner Dr. Jeffrey Rouse abandoned his bid for re-election. Rouse missed the July 21 deadline to withdraw from the race, so his name will remain on the ballot along with opposition Dr. Dwight McKenna.

Several people have voiced their intent to still vote for Rouse in order to force a special election with two candidates. Everson said he doesn’t like idea of an unopposed election and suggested voting for Rouse to spark another ballot.

Ryan Hargis, party member, said he would support McKenna if he was sure McKenna was the better candidate. But, if none of the party members favored one candidate over the other, a special election is the best bet, he said.

Member Lynne Serpe said she’s generally against a special election due to its cost and low voter turnout, but agreed it was appropriate for the Green Party to recommend Rouse in this case.

“Since it doesn’t sound like anyone wants to endorse McKenna, it’s totally appropriate to make that statement,” Serpe said.