On January 15, the Oklahoma Election Board released a new statewide registration tally. See this story. One person in the state is registered “Americans Elect.” Americans Elect is no longer a qualified party in Oklahoma, because Oklahoma removes parties from the ballot if they fail to poll 10% for the office at the top of the ballot (president in presidential years, governor in midterm years). However, because the Libertarian Party won a lawsuit against Oklahoma in 1998 (Atherton v Ward), voters are permitted to register into parties that recently went off the ballot.
So although all 18 Americans Elect registrants from 2012 were automatically converted to independent voters at the end of last year, voters are free to register Americans Elect during 2013 and 2014, and one person in Comanche County has done so. But assuming Americans Elect does not re-qualify in 2014, after the November 2014 election, the Americans Elect registrants will again be converted to independents.
Oklahomans who wish to send a message that they are unhappy about their limited political options might join the lone voter in Comanche County, and, like him or her, also re-register into the Americans Elect Party.
Richard, the audacity of so-called public servants, at least in Oklahoma, seems to know no limits. By what principle of democracy do they have the right to tell voters they must reregister their party preference? You know, the people they supposedly represent and therefore work for. Where are the descendants of the Boston Tea Party when you really need them?