The Tennessee law on how new and previously unqualified parties get on the ballot was declared unconstitutional on September 20, but only on September 23 did the mainstream news media carry the story. See here for the AP story. See here for a longer story in the Tennessean, which says the state hasn’t decided yet whether to appeal, and which also quotes the chair of the Democratic Party in support of the decision. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the links.
I do hope the leaders of all of the 3rd parties in Tennessee will at least one time in their life, work together on the legislation which will surely follow. I hope, they all have the common sense to ask the member(s) of the Tennessee Legislature who will introduce the legislation to word such where 3rd party candidates have the option to pay a filing fee in lieu of a petition.
To fully understand, look at the current law in Florida. If a single member of a 3rd party wants to seek an office, he or she can either submit petitions or pay a filing fee. If they are the ONLY candidate of their party seeking such office, they automatically go to the November General Election ballot. If 2 or more candidates of the same 3rd party qualify, whether they qualify by petition or filing fee – they must then face each other in a state-paid Primary Election. Then the winner goes to the General Election Ballot.
But with so many 3rd party leaders, they don’t really believe in real “democratic elections.” They don’t want Primary Elections for their 3rd party. They want to CONTROL who the candidate is, and this is why they prefer petitions for ballot access with final decision on the candidates made by the party’s state central committee or by a State Convention,which usually are controlled by these 3rd party leaders.
The AIP in California has a similar system. And while the Independent Party of Florida has few candidates – if ever – the AIP in California has proven over the decades it knows how to act as a political party – not as some 3rd party caucus. This is one reason why the AIP in California has almost 400,000 registered voters, and another reason why their ticket will get more votes this November than will the candidates of other 3rd parties in this state.
Small political parties are better off nominating by convention than by primary. The people in attendance at the convention can make an informed choice. They can hear the candidates debate. When minor parties nominate by primary, we have the situation that just occurred in the Arizona Green Party.
And the AIP of California’s registration strength is not because the AIP has a primary. The IAP of Nevada has an even higher percentage of Nevada’s registration than the AIP does of California’s. And the IAP of Nevada nominates by convention.
Also, when states require small parties to nominate by primary, they can then also make it very difficult for the members of that party to get on that party’s primary ballot. That’s why the Constitution Party of South Dakota has no statewide nominees this year, except for Secretary of State, an office for which all parties nominate by convention. That’s why the Massachusetts Libertarian Party, a ballot-qualified party with its own primary, has no nominees on the ballot this year. That’s why the Maine Green Party, a ballot-qualified party with its own primary, has no nominee for Governor or Congress this year.
“And the AIP of California’s registration strength is not because the AIP has a primary. The IAP of Nevada has an even higher percentage of Nevada’s registration than the AIP does of California’s. And the IAP of Nevada nominates by convention.”
The American Independent Party in California and the Independent American Party in Nevada have high voter registration numbers due to the fact that many people checked those boxes on their voter registration form thinking that this would have them registered as independents and not realizing that these are political parties. If one wants to register as an independent in California one is supposed to check the Decline To State A Political Party box, and there is a similiar box on the voter registration forms in Nevada. The majority of the people who are registered to vote under the American Independent Party banner in California and the Independent American Party banner in Nevada have no clue what these parties are about or that they are even political parties.