On February 14, Maryland State Senator William C. Ferguson (D-Baltimore) introduced SB 1032, which changes the number of registered members for a party to remain ballot-qualified from 1% of the state total, to exactly 10,000 members. If the bill were enacted, the state’s two ballot-qualified minor parties, the Libertarian and Green Parties, would no longer face removal every four years. Parties need 10,000 signatures to get on the ballot, so logically it is difficult to understand why they should need more than 10,000 members to remain on. Thanks to Brian Bittner for this news.
Currently (11/6/2012 –sorry, but these are the latest official numbers available) the MD LP has 11,256 affiliated voters. The MD GP has only 8,716, but if this bill were to pass they could easily do a registration drive that should put them over the top pretty quickly — if they’re not already.
And if this bill passes, then the SBE will need to keep these numbers more up to date.