The Oregon Secretary of State plans to give permission for Oregon counties to use 3-letter abbreviations for political parties, instead of the normal practice of printing the full name of parties. See this story.
It is likely there will be litigation over this. The story quotes an opponent of the idea, as saying that abbreviations are inherently discriminatory, because virtually all voters know what “DEM” and “REP” means, but few voters will know that “PGP” means Green Party.
So why don’t they use “GRN”?
Sounds like they’re really afraid of the “Boston Tea Party” candidates showing up? Maybe not, but libertarians being labeled as “LIB” might actually help in Oregon, if people think it means liberal.
Any American Aardvark party — AAA ???
Abbreviations are fine for putting your high score in for Asteroids, but this is a little ridiculous…
They do this in West Virginia where our Constitution Party shows up as the CON party. Talk about something that can be misleading! If they can make room for three letter abbreviations, why not five letters? REPUB, DEMOC, CONST, LIBER, MOUNT (The Mountain Party is the GREEN party affiliate in our state).
I certainly hope there is litigation in Oregon. We’ll be watching for it.
I prefer “LBT” to “LIB” for “Libertarian.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGP
Parti gabonais du progrès
ICAO code for Perm Airlines
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Rosa, we’re talking about government election officials. Using “GRN” would be common sense and that’s not allowed. Also, I agree with Rob with “LBT”.
LBT = Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender
I think a more appropriate symbol for the Republican Party is “BP”.