Two Major Parties Now Have 73.5% of Registration, Perhaps Their Lowest Ever

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The twentynine states with registration by party, plus the District of Columbia, reported in October or November 2010 that 73.5% of all voters are registered Democrats or registered Republicans.  This is the lowest percentage for the two major parties since before 1980, and probably the lowest ever.  There was no such thing as registration into political parties, on voter registration forms, before the 1910’s decade.  The idea that people should be asked to choose a party on a voter registration form did not arise until after the start of direct primary elections.

At the spring 2010 tallies, the two major parties had 73.8% of the registration.  In October 1992, the two major parties had 80.7% of the registration.  The December 1 2010 printed Ballot Access News will contain registration data by party and by state.

Texas Bill to Require Presidential Candidates to Submit Birth Certificate

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Texas legislators are already introducing bills for the 2011 legislative session.  Representative Leo Berman recently introduced HB 295, which says that no presidential or vice-presidential candidate may be listed on the November ballot unless he or she has presented an “original birth certificate indicating that the person is a natural-born United States citizen.”

The bill has no effect on presidential primaries, or on write-in candidates.  The bill seems not to acknowledge that not every person born in the United States has a birth certificate.  Nor does the bill define “original birth certificate.”  The new language proposed by the bill is only one sentence long.  Thanks to Political Wire for this news.

Sacramento Bee Scolds California Independent Voters Project for Providing Legislators with Paid Trip to Hawaii Resort, and Not Disclosing Source of Funds

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The November 18 issue of the Sacramento Bee has this editorial, criticizing the California Independent Voters Project for treating some California legislators to a free trip to a Hawaii resort.  The California Independent Voters Project was the original sponsor of the “top-two” idea in California.  It had planned to qualify the idea through the initiative process.  In the end, the California legislature put the idea on the June 2010 ballot, so no initiative petition was needed.

California Independent Voters Project is a non-profit organization, so it is not required to reveal the source of the money that was used to pay for the legislators’ trips.  But it appears that the money came from for-profit corporations.  Also, because CAIVP is a non-profit organization, it was able to send campaign literature in support of the top-two measure (Proposition 14) at the least expensive postal rates.

The Sacramento Bee editorial does not mention that California Independent Voters Project was the original author of Proposition 14.  The Fresno Bee had a story about CAIVP and the Hawaii matter on November 16, and that story does mention the connection between Proposition 14 and CAIVP.  Also see this commentary.