On July 19, a U.S. District Court denied injunctive relief to a New York voter who recently changed his registration from “independent” to being a member of the Independence Party. Van Allen v State Board of Elections, 1:07-cv-722, Albany.

New York is the only state that won’t let a voter join a party and have that membership take effect immediately. Instead, such a voter isn’t considered a member of the party until the following year. Van Allen’s case would have been stronger if he had been joined in the lawsuit by the Independence Party of New York. Political parties have powerful First Amendment rights of association. If a political party and a voter would join together in a lawsuit, the lawsuit would probably win. The ostensible state interest in the law is to protect political parties from people who are not joining because they believe in the party, but because they just want to vote in its primary. But if a party were to say it doesn’t need that protection, the case would be strong.