On August 1, the Florida Secretary of State revoked the qualified status of the Reform Party, for failure to file campaign finance reports. See the ruling here.
The Reform Party is now no longer qualified in any state.
However, the Reform Party is free to re-file for qualified status in Florida. Thanks to Independent Political Report for the news.
They need to hang it up.
The Reform Party has an asset that some other minor parties don’t have. The Reform Party is recognized by the Federal Election Commission as a “national committee.” Therefore the Reform Party, if it is ballot-qualified in Florida, can place a presidential nominee on the November ballot with no petition at all.
The only other parties recognized as “national committees” by the FEC are Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Natural Law, and Socialist.
While the Reform Partycould requalify, that would not be a realistic possibility. Just to qualify a new party, they would have to pay a lawyer to write new bylaws that conform with Florida statutes, find officers, register electors, and raise money. At a minimum, that could take up to a year and they would not be on the ballot for 2024. And given the current state of the National Reform Party, I doubt they have the resources. Not to mention the newer centrist movement, such as the Forward Party and No Labels Party, that are better organized and deeper pockets. Realistically, the Reform Party is dead.
Richard Winger,
The PSL has ballot access but are not FEC organized. They aren’t currently enforcing the FEC requirement
Sounds like they no longer have their one last remaining asset.
It’s weird how they enforce that some years but not others.
Joe, you’re right. The PSL was put on the november 2020 ballot for president, even though if the Secretary of State followed the Florida law, he wouldn’t have done that. Florida did not enforce its law (which passed in 2011) either in 2012 nor in 2020. But they did enforce it in 2016, and thereby kept Evan McMullin off the ballot. He was the nominee of the Independent Party.
Joe, it wouldn’t be hard for the Reform Party to re-file. They don’t need new bylaws. There is nothing wrong with their bylaws. They could just submit the same old bylaws, and this time they should file campaign finance reports. When the Independent Party went off the ballot in Florida (I forget why) they got back on fairly quickly.
Richard Winger,
Yes, it would be difficult. The law has changed multiple times since 2012. They do need new bylaws. Additionally, since the national Reform Party selected the leadership that lost the registration, it shows the Reform Party in general lacks the skill set and institutional knowledge to get on the ballot in a timely manner.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve been interested in the Reform Party. I know that at one point there were two competing groups both claiming to be the real party. Like an aging rock group that breaks up and everyone wants control over the name. Is this still a problem?
What ever happened to the NYS Reform Party?
Maybe the Reform Party is finally dead. It really hasn’t done much of anything since the 2000 election.
Isn’t there still one in Mississippi also?
Which reminds me:
Has Rocky Dela Fuente given up on politics? Haven’t heard from him in a while.
He might be busy running for office in various countries around the planet.
Florida should require parties to hold a biennial convention with a quorum based on membership.
For a party that has done as little as they have in the last 20 years they continue to get an inordinate amount of attention.