The Newark, New Jersey Star-Ledger has this column in its November 1 edition. It lambasts New Jersey election law on two points: (1) the design of the ballot for candidates who are not the nominees of qualified parties; (2) the restrictive definition of qualified political party in New Jersey.

The column contrasts New Jersey with New York, where parties that poll approximately 1% of the vote for Governor meet the definition of “qualified party”. The story mentions that the Conservative Party, having enjoyed qualified status in New York ever since 1962, was well-positioned to run a competitive race in this week’s special U.S. House race in that state. By contrast, the article says that New Jersey defines “political party” to be a group that polled 10% of the total vote cast for all votes cast for the lower house of the legislature at the last election. This definition is so restrictive, no party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties has ever met it. That definition was created in 1920. Before 1920, the definition was 2% of the Assembly vote, and it is believed that both the Progressive Party of 1912-1916 met that earlier definition, as well as the Socialist Party in 1917 and perhaps 1912-1914. Therefore, the column is not strictly accurate when it says no third party has been ballot-qualified in New Jersey in the 20th century, but it is accurate to say that no third party has ever met the existing 10% requirement. The article is also slightly in error when it says the Liberal Party is still ballot-qualified; that party failed to poll as much as 50,000 votes for Governor in 2002, so has not returned to the New York ballot. Thanks to Scott Lieberman for the link.