Seven states have laws that say no one can be an independent candidate if, in the past, that person has been a member of a qualified party, as determined by what he or she put on the voter registration form. The most severe prior disaffiliation period is in Colorado, where no one can be an independent candidate if that person was a member of a qualified party, for even one day, in the year preceding the filing period.
A Colorado legislator has decided to introduce a bill in 2010 to ease the prior period.
The second most severe requirement is California’s, where an independent must not have been a member of a qualified party, at any time during the 13 months prior to the general election. The third most severe law is Oregon’s, where the period is 180 days before the filing deadline.
It hardly matters in California since it is so difficult for an independent candidate to qualify. Ironically, California’s law was relaxed so that Lucy Killea could run as an independent after she quit the Democratic Party.
Under SCA 4/SB 6, California’s Top 2 Open Primary reform, candidates could choose to not have their party affiliation appear on the ballot, so they wouldn’t even have to change their party affiliation.
Or a candidate could simply change their party registration before the filing date and have the new designation appear on the ballot. Their party registration for the previous 10 years would be available on the Secretary of State website.
In 2008, California had two independent candidates on the ballot for U.S. House, and one for State Senate.
Those two independent congressional candidates in 2008 were among 9 since the 1970s.
The senate candidate was in a district where two candidates failed to win the Democratic nomination as write-in candidates, because of a California law regarding the number of votes for a write-in candidate to be a larger number than on-ballot candidates must achieve. If Jim Fitzgerald had not filed, Lt.Gov-designate Abel Maldonado would have been unopposed.
Under SB 6, Dennis Moore would have qualified for the general election ballot. Or Fitzgerald could have easily qualified for the open primary ballot.