This year, for some unknown reason, major and minor parties will lose their ballot status.
In North Dakota, a party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 5% for Secretary of State. The Libertarian Party, the only ballot-qualified party other than the two major parties, is running for three statewide offices, but not Secretary of State. The party had chosen a candidate for Secretary of State but he failed to file for the party’s primary, even though he needed no petition and no filing fee.
In South Dakota, a party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 2.5% for Governor. The Constitution Party, the only ballot-qualified party other than the two major parties, has a nominee for Secretary of State, but not Governor.
In Wisconsin, a party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 1% for any statewide office. No candidate gathered the needed 2,000 signatures to appear on the Green Party’s primary ballot for any statewide office.
In Montana, a party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 5% of the winning candidate’s vote for any statewide race at either of the last two elections. The Constitution Party did not poll enough votes to meet this test in 2008, and in 2010, its “second chance” election, it is not running for either of the statewide offices, so it will go off the ballot.
In Massachusetts, a party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 3% for any statewide race. The Libertarian Party is the only ballot-qualified party other than the two major parties. No candidate qualified to appear on the Libertarian Party primary ballot, because primary petitions are so difficult. They require 10,000 signatures for some statewide offices and 5,000 signatures for other, less important, statewide offices. Only registered members of that party, and registered independents, may sign.
Fox News Poll released several days ago for the Colorado gubernatorial election shows these results: Hickenlooper, Democrat, 44%; Tancredo, Constitution, 34%; Maes, Republican, 15%; others and undecided 7%. The share of the vote for the Republican nominee, Dan Maes, has been dropping with each new poll. If he polls less than 10%, the Republican Party will no longer be a qualified major party and will no longer have a random chance of obtaining the top line on the ballot.
As soon as the November 2, 2010 election has been held, the Democratic and Republican Party of Washington state will no longer be ballot-qualified. This is because the law defines a ballot-qualified party as one that polled 5% of the vote for any statewide race at the last election, for any of its nominees. But under the state’s non-partisan top-two system, which went into effect in 2008, parties won’t have nominees, except for President. It is very likely that the 2011 session of the legislature will change the definition of “party”. During 2009 and 2010, the Secretary of State tried to persuade the legislature to amend the definition of qualified party to a group that had polled at least 1% for President at the last presidential election. That bill, SB 5681, did not pass.
With the growth of independent voters, our concept of Major and Minor parties will have to change.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!
Michael H. Drucker
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