2011 DONATIONS TO MINOR PARTIES ON STATE INCOME TAX FORMS ARE THREE TIMES HIGHER THAN IN 2010

Thirteen states provide that state income tax forms let taxpayers send a donation to the taxpayer’s favorite party. For returns filed in the first half of 2011, 5.0% of the taxpayers who participated in this voluntary program chose to help a minor party. By contrast, for the tax returns submitted in the first half of 2010, only 1.7% chose a minor party.

The amount of money sent to minor parties in the first half of 2011 was $75,826, whereas in the first half of 2011, it was only $25,619.

Meanwhile, the amount of money sent to the two major parties barely increased in 2011, relative to 2010. The various state Republican Parties received $616,027 in the first half of 2010, and $603,022 in the first half of 2011. The state Democratic Parties received $830,562 in the first half of 2010, and $850,490 in the first half of 2011.

The results would be even more favorable to minor parties, except that in Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia, only the Democratic and Republican Parties are listed on 2010 forms. In four of those six states, only the two major parties are ballot-qualified. In Ohio, even when there are qualified parties besides the Democratic and Republican Parties, the tax form only permits contributions to parties that polled 20%. In New Mexico, the law says all the qualified parties are supposed to be listed, but the state broke its own law and listed only the Democrats and Republicans.

During odd years, there are few ways to measure the appeal of various parties. The state income tax forms provide one of the few objective measurements of what people are thinking about various political parties during odd years.

Most states don’t have partisan elections for state office in odd years. Although voter registration data is useful for measuring the appeal of various parties, in the 29 states in which voters register into parties, the data is incomplete in odd years because so many states don’t compile it in odd years.

The 2011 tax data, showing increased interest in minor parties, is not surprising, given that recent public opinion polls show marked dissatisfaction with the two major parties. See page four for a chart that shows the tax data for each state, and for the nation as a whole during the past eleven years.

On August 1, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed SB 168, which made it illegal to pay circulators on a per-signature basis. The veto was a surprise, because every Democrat in both houses of the legislature, except two, had voted for the bill.

Laws that make it illlegal to pay circulators on a per-signature basis vastly increase the cost of completing a petition. The California bill banned per-signature payment "directly or indirectly", and if the bill had been signed, lawsuits against the restriction would undoubtedly have been filed. The bill only covered initiative, referendum and recall petitions, but if it had not been vetoed, it is likely that in the future, the legislature would have extended it to petitions to place candidates and parties on the ballot.

Notwithstanding the veto, on August 18 the legislature passed another anti-initiative bill, SB 448, which forces paid circulators to wear a button that says in big print that the circulator is being paid.

On July 27, Delaware Governor Jack Martell signed SB 118 and SB 89. The effect of the two bills is to relax the time restrictions on groups that are trying to qualify for party status in Delaware. In Delaware, a qualified party is a group that has voter registration membership equal to one-tenth of 1% of the number of registered voters in the state.

A problem for newly-qualifying parties has been that the old Delaware law didn’t let voters switch parties during the period October of the odd year before a presidential election, through February of the presidential election year. But under the new laws, voters can switch parties at all times during odd years. The new law still blocks people from switching parties, but now the restricted zone doesn’t start until late February of a presidential election year. It ends in late April, and then people can again switch parties, until another restricted zone begins in June.

During restricted periods, newly-qualifying parties can still gain new members, but they can only gain them by registering people into their party who had not previously been registered to vote at all. Delaware’s 2012 deadline for a group to obtain its registered members is August 21.

On August 9, the Ohio Libertarian Party filed a new ballot access lawsuit, alleging that the new petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties, early February, is unconstitutional. Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, 2:11-722. The case has a hearing on August 30.

Recently, much commentary about U.S. politics has suggested that political parties are harmful, and that the United States would be better off if we either eliminate party labels from the ballot, or at least that we eliminate the connection between use of the party label, and whether or not the candidate bearing that label is actually nominated by that party.

Last month, reporters for several newspapers in Arizona, Florida, and Mississippi published stories suggesting that if we cut the connection between a party label and whether that party actually nominated that candidate, U.S. politics would be improved. These stories suggest that when the major parties nominate candidates, the candidates are extreme in their views, unreasonably partisan, and unable to cooperate in government with office-holders of the other major party.

It is true that Democratic and Republican members of Congress and many state legislatures deserve that criticism. But it does not follow logically that just because office-holders from the Democratic and Republican Parties behave badly, therefore all political parties should be condemned.

The world contains 196 independent nations. Except for a handful with populations below 100,000, all countries in the world, whether they have free elections or not, have political parties. In some unfree nations, the governing party outlaws all other political parties, but even in those nations, people still form opposition parties, which must be underground and which subject their activists to a threat of persecution.

Legislative bodies representing large poulations need parties. In 1914 Minnesota converted its legislative elections to non-partisan elections, but the state soon learned that it was impossible to organize the legislature without informal parties. Within the legislature, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party arose.

Finally, by 1972, Minnesotans demanded an end to non-partisan legislative elections, because they were aware that the legislature, in fact, was still operating with parties, and felt that it would be better to bring the parties out into the open, and include party labels on the ballot for the benefit of voters.

It is true that Nebraska has had a non-partisan legislature since 1936, but Nebraska newspapers regularly keep readers informed of the party registration of various members of the legislature. And Nebraska has always had partisan elections for state and county executive offices.

Commentators frequently say that George Washington did not approve of political parties, and they cite his Farewell Address. But the speech does not condemn political parties. It only condemns "the spirit of party", not parties themselves. In other words, Washington was worried about extreme partisanship, in which individuals become so attached to one party, they irrationally and emotionally reject good ideas from other parties, and cannot work with members of other parties.

The Address says about partisanship, "A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming, it should consume."

Washington borrowed this analogy from Federalist Paper #10, in which James Madison wrote about faction. Madison said that factionalism is bad, but that trying to outlaw it would do more harm than factionalism itself. Like Washington, he also compared partisanship to a fire. Madison said that fire is dangerous, but we still need fire, and eliminating all the air, just to avoid fire, would obviously be far worse. Finally, Madison said the best way to deal with factionalism is to have multiple "factions" (i.e., parties), instead of just two.

Washington put members of both parties into his cabinet, a policy followed by other Presidents since then.

IndependentVoting.org, also known as cuip.org, is an organization that holds itself out as representing the interests of independent voters. Leaders of IndependentVoting suggest, but don’t make explicit, a desire to convert all elections to non-partisan elections. For several years, the organization has campaigned in support of ballot measures to impose "top-two" primary systems, and it has also intervened in court against Republican Party attempts in Idaho and South Carolina to limit voting in Republican primaries to voters who consider themselves Republicans.

All but one of the national leaders of IndependentVoting are former long-time activists in the New Alliance Party, which existed from 1979 through 1994. However, most of IndependentVoting’s state affiliates are headed by people who were not part of the New Alliance Party.

The organization’s webpage lists the organization’s board members, and the editors of the organization’s publication. Jacqueline Salit, President of IndependentVoting, was a columnist for the New Allia
nce Party’s newspaper from 1981 through 1994. During most of those years, she was also Executive Editor. That newspaper was called the New York Alliance until 1984, when it became the National Alliance. Except for History Professor Omar Ali, all of the other members of IndependentVoting’s national Board, and all of the editors of the organization’s on-line publication, The Neo-Independent, were active with the New Alliance Party while it existed, most of them since 1984, and some since 1979. Lenora Fulani was the party’s National Chair 1987-1994. Jim Mangia, Jesse Fields, Sarah Lyons, and Nancy Ross were New Alliance Party nominees for public office. Bob Friedman was the party’s Southern States Coordinator, and Cathy Stewart headed the newspaper’s Boston Bureau. Phyllis Goldberg was a News Editor for the party’s newspaper, and Nancy Hanks headed up fundraising for the 1988 campaign in the Midwest states.

No criticism is meant by this article’s revealing that IndependentVoting’s national officers were once leaders of the New Alliance Party. There is nothing wrong with a group of people trying to build a party, and later deciding that party-building is not worthwhile activity, and deciding instead that their energy should instead work for a system that minimizes the role of political parties.

But IndependentVoting’s message would be more persuasive, if leaders of IndependentVoting forthrightly revealed that they once tried very hard to build their own political party, and that after decades of work, the group then concluded that it is better instead to work to weaken all political parties. IndependentVoting’s national officers seems to conceal the story of this strategic turnabout.

The New Alliance Party was a very formidable organization. In 1984, with no prior experience in presidential campaigns, it put its presidential nominee, Dennis Serrette, on the ballot of 33 jurisdictions. At the time no black presidential candidate had ever before been on that many ballots. And, except for new parties organized by past Presidents or Vice-Presidents, or members of Congress, or Governors, no new party had managed to get itself on that many ballots in its first campaign since 1900, when the Socialist Party did it (but in 1900 the ballot access laws were far easier).

In 1985, party leaders organized the Rainbow Lobby, which got a bill introduced in Congress to outlaw restrictive ballot access laws in federal elections. No such bill had ever before existed. Although the bill never passed, it was introduced later in nine more sessions of Congress.

In 1988, the party put its presidential nominee on the ballot of all states, the first "left" party to achieve that goal since 1892. Even the Socialist Party didn’t mange that feat at its peak in the 1910’s, because it was not on the North Carolina government-printed ballot.

Also in 1988, the party elected one of its nominees to the Nebraska State Senate (although the election was non-partisan, the winner was a registered member of the New Alliance Party). In 1989, the party’s nominee for a New York city council race, Pedro Espada, polled 41.4% in a two-candidate race. In 1992, the party’s presidential candidate, Lenora Fulani, received $1,989,966 in primary season matching funds, and her campaign’s total spending was $4,009,843.

This is a proud history, but IndependentVoting leaders never acknowledge it. When they do mention Lenora Fulani’s campaign, they always says she was an "independent" presidential candidate, ignoring the fact that she was nominated in two national conventions by a party of which she was National Chair, a party that also had a National Committee, state party officers, a large national office, and state offices in over half the states. It was a party whose name appeared on the ballot of 38 states, and which ran hundreds of candidates for partisan office. It was a party that had its own primaries in Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Nebraska, and Wyoming. It was a party that had thousands of registered members, and tens of thousands of dues-paying members.

History Professor Omar Ali, a leader of IndependentVoting, knows that the New Alliance Party was a real party. His 2008 book In the Balance of Power, Independent Black Politics and Third-Party Movements in the United States, says "Fulani ran for president on the New York-based New Alliance Party ticket in 1988, receiving 217,219 votes."

Another irony about the leaders of IndependentVoting is that all of them who live in New York are party officers of the Independence Party. These officers control that party’s organization within New York city, which gives them the formidable power to determine whether to let Mayor Mike Bloomberg run in the party’s primary.

Bloomberg is not a registered member of the Independence Party, so he can’t run in the party’s primary unless they consent. Both in 2001, and in 2009, the Mayor (who was also the Republican Party nominee) needed his votes on the Independence Party line in order to win. In fairness, however, leaders of IndependentVoting have not been hesitant to reveal their role inside the Independence Party.

Arkansas: on August 9, the 8^th circuit upheld the state’s vote test for a party to remain on the ballot. Green Party of Arkansas v Martin, 10-3106. Arkansas removes parties from the ballot unless they poll 3% for the office at the top of the ballot (President and Governor). The decision was not too surprising, because no federal court has ever struck down any state’s law on how parties remain on the ballot. The U.S. Supreme Court has never had a case on this subject. The decision was written by U.S. District Court Judge James Gritzner, a Bush Jr. appointee, and co-signed by Judges Michael Melloy and Duane Benton, also Bush Jr. appointees.

D.C.: on August 19, the lawsuit Libertarian Party v D.C. Board of Elections was referred for mediation. The issue is whether write-in votes for declared presidential write-in candidates should be counted. The Board has never counted such write-ins, even though the ballot has a write-in line for President.

Pennsylvania: on July 27, a U.S. District Court Judge Nora Fischer upheld a state law that makes it illegal for registration workers to be paid on a per-registration card basis. Project Vote v Kelly, w.d., 09-951. However, she strongly implied that if the law barred paying bonuses to registration workers who are high performers, then the law would be unconstitutional. She also implied the law would be unconstitutional if Pennsylvania used registration data to determine if a party should be on the ballot.

~	Demo.	Rep.	Green	Lib’t.	Indpnce	Constitutn	other
Alabama	6,820	8,492	– –	1	– –	– –	– –
Arizona	8,523	6,215	315	544	– –	– –	– –
Idaho	15,317	12,853	– –	1,660	– –	1,307	– –
Iowa	43,665	33,441	– –	– –	– –	– –	– –
Kentucky	87,520	75,224	– –	– –	– –	– –	– –
Maine	10,477	3,947	2,783	– –	– –	– –	– –
Minn.	52,682	29,031	3,458	– –	11,194	– –	– –
N. Mex.	5,310	3,324	2	– –	– –	– –	– –
No. Car.	409,480	233,396	– –	47,646	– –	– –	– –
Ohio.	130,932	130,932	– –	– –	– –	– –	– –
Rhode I.	10,340	4,336	– –	– –	– –	– –	520 Moderate
Utah	32,886	46,276	2	3,282	– –	3,060	52 Pers. Ch.
Virginia	36,538	15,555	– –	– –	– –	– –	– –
TOTAL	850,490	603,022	6,560	53,133	11,194	4,367	572

The states above give state income-tax payers a chance to send a contribution to the political party of the taxpayer’s choice. The chart above lists the amounts received by each party. Ohio does not let taxpayers decide which party to help, and only lets taxpayers help parties that polled 20% in the last election. The other states let the taxpayer decide which party to help.

YEAR	Democrat	Republican	Green	Lib’t.	Reform	Constit.	Other
2000	941,463	822,671	31,864	13,024	5,054	19,209	71,824
2001	680,608	611,065	12,184	8,173	755	2,295	46,232
2002	928,716	892,438	84,120	7,289	749	2,886	97,559
2003	1,181,312	1,126,585	20,665	7,859	46	51	9,975
2004	828,136	786,190	16,309	8,446	324	1,409	8,822
2005	750,461	714,238	18,100	5,546	34	2,442	25,887
2006	915,945	806,193	50,434	7,282	– –	5,847	45,355
2007	1,050,593	850,580	15,716	5,839	– –	3,503	15,627
2008	1,520,746	1,127,478	8,324	5,034	– –	5,938	5,219
2009	978,325	718,165	7,642	45,889	– –	4,520	4,970
2010	830,562	616,027	5,257	11,115	– –	3,617	5,630
2011	850,490	603,022	6,560	53,133	– –	4,367	11,766

Ballot Access News has been collecting this data starting in 2000, so those eleven years of data are summarized in the second chart. The ratio between the amounts contributed to the Democratic Party and the Republican Party is interesting to track. Although Democrats have always received more donations from state income tax checkoffs than Republicans have, the ratio between the two major parties was closest in 2003, and furthest apart in 2011.

STATE	REQUIREMENTS		SIGNATURES COLLECTED				DEADLINES
	FULL PARTY	CAND	LIB’T	GREEN	CONSTI	AM. ELE	Party	Indp.
Ala.	44,829	5,000	0	0	0	*400	Mar. 13	Sep. 6
Alask a	(reg) 7,406	#3,271	already on	*2,155	*15	already on	June 1	Aug. 8
Ariz.	23,041	(est) #27,000	already on	already on	0	already on	Mar. 1	Sep. 7
Ark.	10,000	#1,000	already on	0	0	0	June 30	Aug. 1
Calif.	1,030,040	172,859	already on	already on	in court	*finished	unsettled	Aug. 10
Colo.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $500	already on	already on	already on	0	Jan. 8	June 4
Conn.	no procedure	#7,500	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	*Aug. 8
Del.	(est.) (reg) 650	(est.) 6,500	already on	*520	*360	0	Aug. 21	July 15
D.C.	no procedure	(est.) #3,900	can’t start	already on	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 21
Florida	112,174	112,174	already on	already on	already on	unsettled	Sep. 3	July 15
Georgia	57,956	#57,558	already on	0	0	*700	Aug. 6	Aug. 6
Hawaii	691	#4,536	already on	*400	0	finished	Feb. 22	Sep. 7
Idaho	13,102	1,000	already on	*0	already on	*0	Aug. 30	*Aug. 24
Illinois	no procedure	#25,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	June 25
Indiana	no procedure	#34,195	already on	0	0	0	– – –	June 30
Iowa	no procedure	#1,500	0	0	0	0	– – –	Aug. 17
Kansas	16,776	5,000	already on	0	0	already on	June 1	Aug. 6
Ky.	no procedure	#5,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	*Sep. 7
La.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $500	already on	already on	0	0	May 17	Sep. 4
Maine	28,639	#4,000	0	already on	0	0	Dec 8, 11	Aug. 8
Md.	10,000	(est.) 35,000	already on	already on	0	0	Aug. 6	Aug. 6
Mass.	(est) (reg) 40,000	#10,000	15,857	already on	0	0	Nov. 1, 11	July 31
Mich.	32,261	30,000	already on	already on	already on	already on	July 19	July 19
Minn.	105,352	#2,000	0	0	0	0	May 1	*Aug. 21
Miss.	be organized	1,000	already on	already on	already on	0	Jan. 6	Sep. 7
Mo.	10,000	10,000	already on	0	already on	finished	July 30	July 30
Mont.	5,000	#5,000	already on	0	*20	0	Mar. 15	*Aug. 15
Nebr.	4,880	2,500	already on	0	0	0	Aug. 1	*Sep. 1
Nev.	7,013	7,013	already on	0	already on	already on	April 13	July 6
N. Hamp.	13,698	#3,000	*3,000	0	0	0	Aug. 8	Aug. 8
N.J.	no procedure	#800	0	0	0	0	– – –	July 30
N. M.	3,009	18,053	already on	*700	0	0	Apr. 2	*June 27
N.Y.	no procedure	#15,000	can’t start	already on	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 21
No. Car.	85,379	85,379	already on	0	3,000	0	May 16	June 14
No. Dak.	7,000	#4,000	0	0	0	0	Apr. 13	Sep. 7
Ohio	*38,525	5,000	*in court	*0	*0	*5,000	unsettled	Aug. 8
Okla.	51,739	43,890	*9,000	0	0	0	March 1	July 15
Oregon	21,804	18,279	already on	8,950	already on	0	Aug. 28	Aug. 28
Penn.	no procedure	(es) #25,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 1
R.I.	17,115	#1,000	0	0	0	0	June 1	Sep. 7
So. Car.	10,000	10,000	already on	already on	already on	0	May 6	July 15
So. Dak.	7,928	3,171	*600	0	0	0	Mar. 27	Aug. 7
Tenn.	40,042	275	0	0	0	0	April 5	Aug. 16
Texas	49,729	80,778	already on	already on	can’t start	can’t start	May 20	May 14
Utah	2,000	#1,000	already on	0	already on	*3,000	Feb. 15	Aug. 15
Vermont	be organized	#1,000	already on	0	0	0	Jan. 1	Jun 14
Virginia	no procedure	#10,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 24
Wash.	no procedure	#1,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 28
West Va.	no procedure	#7,135	0	already on	0	0	– – –	Aug. 1
Wisc.	10,000	#2,000	can’t start	can’t start	already on	can’t start	June 1	Sep. 7
Wyo.	3,740	3,740	already on	0	*3,000	0	June 1	Aug. 28
TOTAL STATES ON			28	15	11	5	“	`

#partisan label permitted (other than "independent").
"AMER ELE" = Americans Elect Party.
*change since August 1 issue.

On August 16, Missouri Constitution Party leaders announced that a former Republican state legislator, Cynthia L. Davis, has joined the Constitution Party. They said she will probably run for some partisan office as a Constitution Party nominee in 2012. The Constitution Party is ballot-qualified in Missouri and nominates by primary. Davis was in the State House 2002-2010. She couldn’t run for re-election to the House because of term limits, so she can’t run for her old seat in 2012, but she can run for another partisan job. She had also been chair of the St. Charles County Republican Party until July 2011.

Six states hold partisan elections for important state office this year:

Kentucky elects its statewide executive offices on November 8. An independent is on the ballot for Governor, and a Libertarian is on the ballot for Treasurer. That Libertarian is the first minor party candidate on the ballot in a midterm year in Kentucky since 1999, when the Reform and Natural Law Parties had gubernatorial candidates on the ballot.

Louisiana: candidate qualifying is September 6-8. All state offices are up on October 22.

Mississippi: All state offices are up on November 8. An independent candidate is on the ballot for Governor. The Reform, Libertarian and Constitution Parties also have nominees for some state offices. The Reform Party has two factions, and each submitted rival slates of candidates. State election officials will rule on which faction is the legitimate faction on September 9.

New Jersey: elects state legislators on November 8. There are eighteen independent candidates, and the Constitution, Green and Libertarian Parties each have some nominees.

Virginia: elects state legislators on November 8. There are many independent candidates, and also nominees of the Independent Green Party and the Libertarian Party.

West Virginia: elects a Governor on October 4. The Mountain Party and American Third Position have nominees on the ballot, and the Constitution Party has a write-in candidate. An independent candidate is also on the ballot.

On August 21, the Libertarian National Committee voted to donate $50,000 to the campaign of Ed Coleman, an incumbent Libertarian Party city councilman in Indianapolis. Indianapolis has partisan city elections. The election is November 8, 2011. This may be the biggest campaign donation any nationally-organized minor party has made to any of its nominees, other than presidential nominees, in sixty years or more. In 1998, the Reform Party nominee for Governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, was elected, but the national Reform Party gave him almost no financial support.

The Libertarian Party is currently petitioning in New Hampshire to get on the 2012 ballot. On August 18, news stories reported that New Hampshire Republican Party state chair Jack Kimball had signed that petition, and as a result many Republican Party leaders are demanding that Kimball resign. Three of New Hampshire’s Republican members of Congress even called for his resignation. On August 23, Kimball withdrew his signature. This incident is further evidence that the United States should not use petitions to determine which parties and candidates get on the ballot. The British system, in which filing fees regulate ballot access, avoid the problem that people who sign petitions face harassment.