On August 10, Damon J. Baldone filed a lawsuit in state court, to force local election officials to accept his voter registration card that shows he is a Republican and a Democrat. Baldone is an attorney and is representing himself. The case is Baldone v Terrebonne Parish Registrar of Voters, 32nd judicial district court 175157.
Baldone hopes to run for the legislature again this year. If he were permitted to register into both parties, then he would be on the ballot as “Democrat, Republican.” The election is October 2015. Here is his Petition for a Writ of Mandamus.
Whether an individual can be a member of two political parties is an interesting philosophical question which has been very little litigated or discussed. It is somewhat similar to the question of whether an individual can be a member of two different churches.
Does the hack/moron change his clothes when he magically becomes a New Age Donkey or Elephant ???
More summer NONSENSE in the courts.
The D’s and R’s have already become of one heart and mind, they should just officially join to make it easier for the people to see. However, running candidates in separate parties ensures victory about 99% of the time.
It is an interesting issue. Obviously one can belong to two or more churches, but it’s the churches who decide who can be a member. In the case of political parties, it seems to be the case in most states where it’s not the political parties who decides who can be their members but the state. This website has a bias against fusion for philosophical reasons, but I like fusion because it allows candidates to run on multiple parties (although I don’t think any fusion states allow voters to register in more than one party) and at least express that they philosophically agree with more than one party. (That some parties aren’t really parties in some people’s opinions is not inherent to the concept of fusion.)
I know Ballot Access News will keep us informed on the status of this litigation. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. Meanwhile, if you know of any law review articles on the subject, I’d be interested, as I have been unable to find any.
It may be different in other nations where parties, not the state, control their own government, although I suspect that their applications ask you to certify that you are not a member of another political party. The Scottish National Party (SNP) says you can’t be a member of any other party active in Scotland, so presumably you could also join Plaid Cymru, active only in Wales but not the Labor, Conservative, Social Democratic, Green or UK Independence parties.
All of these cases involved unique political circumstances, a popular and well known candidate, and a highly organized and well funded write-in education campaign. The growth of any third political party in the United States faces extremely challenging obstacles, among them restrictive ballot access.