LEFT MINOR PARTIES SHOWED NEW STRENGTH IN 2024

At last year’s election, minor parties of the left showed notable success, compared to the recent past.

Green Party:  more than doubled its presidential vote compared to 2020 (from 405,114 to 864,295). This is especially noteworthy because ballot access in 2024 was substantially more difficult than in 2020, especially in Illinois and New York.  By contrast, the 2024 Libertarian presidential vote fell to 35% of what it had been in 2020.

Also, compared to 2022, the Green Party tripled its U.S. Senate vote and also tripled its U.S. House vote.

	SENATE	HOUSE
2022	87,964	79,669
2024	288,495	204,714

Immediately after the election, the Green Party was on the ballot in 18 states.  By comparison, after the 2020 election, it was on in 15 states.  Furthermore, it would have remained on in New Mexico in 2024 if it had polled six more votes for President; and it would have remained on in Missouri if it had polled eight more votes for Lieutenant Governor.

Party for Socialism and Liberation:  received its highest presidential vote total ever, 171,944.  This is the highest presidential vote total for a Marxist party in U.S. history, and the first time such a party had topped 100,000 votes for President since 1932, when the Communist Party received 102,991.  Back in 1932, ballot access was far easier.

PSL doesn’t run candidates for other partisan office under its own name, so no other vote metric for that party exists.

Working Class Party: does not run for President, but does run for Congress and state office in a few states.  It has existed starting in 2016, and had its best showing ever in 2024.  Its nine nominees for U.S. House (in California, Illinois, and Michigan) received 123,788 votes.  In Michigan, the only state in which it ran for a statewide executive position, it received 234,584 votes for State Board of Education.  Michigan elects eight statewide partisan educational offices every election year, and the Working Class nominee in 2024 received more votes than any other minor party candidate for an educational post.  In Illinois, the Working Class Party’s one U.S. House candidate polled enough votes to give the party qualified status for 2026 in that single district.  Its nominee, Edward Hershey, had opponents from both major parties but still got the needed 5%.  No minor party had done that in Illinois, in a race with both major parties, since 2016.

Workers Party of South Carolina:  in its first time on the ballot, it ran three legislative candidates.  Its State Senate candidate, who had only a Republican opponent, polled 20.82%.  The party is loosely associated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and nominated that party’s presidential nominee as its presidential nominee.  This is the first time that a party with “Socialist”, “Socialism”, or “Workers” had ever appeared on a government-printed ballot in South Carolina.  Before 1950, South Carolina didn’t have government-printed ballots.

Workers Party of Massachusetts:  polled 27.01% for a State Senate seat in a two-person race.

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HIGH COURT SHOWS INTEREST IN NEW YORK BALLOT ACCESS CASE

On January 16, the U.S. Supreme Court asked New York to respond to Meadors v Erie County Board  of Elections, 24-684.  This is the case that challenges the May petition deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties.  This is the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has asked for a response to a cert petition on ballot access since 2020.  If the Court accepts this case, it will be the first time it has accepted a ballot access case filed by a minor party or an independent candidate since 1991, when it heard Norman v Reed.

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NEW YORK BALLOT ACCESS BILLS

Identical bills have been introduced in both houses of the New York legislature to ease ballot access for independent candidates and minor parties.  S1870/A2724 would reduce the number of signatures for statewide candidates from 45,000 to 15,000.  They would change the deadline from May to August.  They would expand the petitioning period from six weeks to twelve weeks, and ease the distribution requirement from 500 signatures in each of half of the U.S. House districts, to 100 signatures.

Also, they would ease the definition of a qualified party from a group that got 2% for the office at the top of the ticket (President in presidential years and Governor in midterm years) to exactly 50,000 votes for each office.  The Assembly bill has six sponsors, and the Senate bill has one sponsor.  All are Republicans.

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MORE BALLOT ACCESS LEGISLATIVE NEWS

California:  a few activists are trying to find a sponsor for a bill to lower the independent presidential petition, which required 219,403 signatures in 2024.  That is so difficult, no one has qualified as an independent for president since 1992.  If you are interested in this, e-mail richardwinger@yahoo.com.  One Assemblymember has already met with Winger, but there is no commitment yet.

Florida:  Governor Ron DeSantis recently sent a list of election law ideas to the legislature, including lowering the candidate filing fee.  Currently, Florida has by far the highest filing fees in the nation, 4% of the annual salary and another 2% of the annual salary for candidates who want the nomination of a party, for a total of 6%.  That amounts to over $10,000 for a congressional candidate seeking a party nomination.  The Governor would lower that to 3%.  Even if that passed, Florida would still be one of only two states with a fee above 2%.

Georgia:  Chase Oliver, the Libertarian presidential nominee last year, and other Libertarians are seeking a legislator willing to sponsor a bill to ease the definition of a qualified party.  If no bill on this subject passes, Georgia almost certainly won’t have any minor party candidates on the ballot for offices other than president, because the Libertarian Party lost its qualified statewide status last year.

Iowa:  State Senator Jeff Taylor has introduced SB 70, to ease the definition of a qualified party.  Current law requires it to poll 2% for President in presidential years, and 2% for Governor in midterm years.  The bill would change the definition to a group that had polled 2% for any statewide race in either of the last two elections, or which has 2,000 registrations.  If the bill passed, the Libertarian and Green Parties would be back on the ballot.

Maryland:  the State Board of Elections has arranged for the introduction of HB 41 and SB 267.  It would move the petition deadline for new parties from August to July.  It would also specify that if a party petition is rejected, the original petition can’t be re-circulated to obtain more signatures.

Activists will ask that the bill be amended, to ease the definition of a qualified party.  Current law says when a party submits the petition, it gets the next two elections; but if it passes the 1% vote test, it only gets one more election.  A rational law would provide that a party that polls enough votes also gets two elections, so that the two methods would be in balance.  Currently, only the Green Party and the two major parties are on the ballot.

Minnesota:  Libertarians are meeting with legislators seeking a sponsor for a bill that would set up a two-tier system, in which large qualified parties would nominate by primary, but small qualified parties would nominate by convention, with no petition needed.  Ironically, Minnesota already has two tiers of political parties in its election law, but qualifying for the lower tier confers no ballot access whatsoever; instead, it entitles the minor party to some public funding.

Montana:  there is no bill pending to alter the distribution requirement for the petition to recognize a new party, even though that requirement was struck down in 2021 in a Green Party lawsuit.  Therefore, any group that wishes to circulate a party petition is apparently free to collect the signatures anywhere in the state.  Both the Constitution Party and the Green Party might circulate such petitions this year.

New Jersey:  the bills described in the January 1, 2025 BAN still have not received a vote in the Senate.  They increase the petition requirements.

Utah:  Representative Raymond Ward (R-Bountiful) has introduced HB 193, to drastically ease the petition requirement for candidates who are seeking to get on a primary ballot and who don’t have substantial support at a party meeting.  Current law requires 2% of party members to sign.  The bill changes that to 1,000 signatures for Governor, U.S. Senator, or Attorney General; 200 for Auditor and Treasurer; 500 for U.S. House; 200 for State Senate; 100 for State Representative.

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LAWSUIT NEWS

Arizona:  on January 13, the Ninth Circuit heard No Labels Party v Fontes, 24-563.  This is the case over whether a party has the right to prevent anyone from filing to run in is primary, if the party doesn’t want any candidates for office except president.  The U.S. District Court had ruled in favor of No Labels, but from the comments of the three judges, it seems clear that the decision will be reversed.  The judges all seemed to feel that it would be unfair to the voters who signed the party’s petition, and to the party’s registrants, to bar them from running.

Illinois:  on January 17, an amended Complaint was filed in Robert F. Kennedy, Jr’s ballot access lawsuit.  The Libertarian Party is a co-plaintiff.  The lawsuit challenges the restrictions on who can circulate a petition.  Currently anyone who circulates a primary petition in any state can’t then come to Illinois and work on a general election petition.  The lawsuit also challenges the 90-day period for petitioning, and the notarization requirement for petitions.

New York:  on January 7, an independent candidate for Mayor of New York City filed a lawsuit against the 2022 law that bars any party from having “Independence” in its name.  Walden v Kosinski, e.d., 1:25cv-72.  The candidate, Jim Walden, wants to use “Independence” as his partisan ballot label.

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ROBERT KENNEDY, JR.-INSPIRED GROUP WILL LOBBY FOR BETTER BALLOT ACCESS

Last year, persons who favored Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s independent presidential campaign formed a group called “More Voter Choice Fund”, to help with ballot access lawsuits.  Now, the group also wants to lobby for better ballot access laws.

The group is sponsoring a lunch at the national convention of the National Association of Secretaries of State, to be held January 31 in Washington, D.C.  Leaders of the group have prepared literature that ranks each state’s ballot access laws.  It is not easy to do this, because ballot access depends on so many different kinds of laws:  (1) the number of signatures needed to get on the ballot; (2) deadlines; (3) length of the period in which petitioning may be carried on; (4) how a party remains on the ballot; (5) whether parties can become ballot-qualified in advance of any particular election and before they have chosen any candidates; (6) size of filing fees; and (7) other details that can make the petition process either straightforward or cumbersome.

Although it is difficult to quantify those variables, these are the grades that the group has given each state (the grades are based on the traditional report card grades of A, B, C, D, and F.  Of course, “F” means “failure.”

A:  Alaska, Idaho.

B:  Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont.

C:  Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

D:  Alabama, Arizona, D.C., Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Washington.

F:  California, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Texas.

It is important to remember that these grades cover ballot access for all offices, not just president.  Some states are easy for presidential candidates but very difficult for other offices.

The group is also seeking appointments with various Secretaries of State.  The group also plans to attend the convention of NASED, the National Association of State Election Directors, being held February 2-4.

More Voter Choice Fund is at hello@morevoterchoicefund.org.  The Director is Deirdre Goldfarb.

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D.C. PRESIDENTIAL WRITE-INS COUNTED

A private individual, Joseph Bishop-Henchman, has looked at all the District of Columbia ballots that had a write-in vote for President.  He then counted them and found these results:  Jill Stein 2,246; Claudia De la Cruz 609; Cornel West 461; Chase Oliver 202; Peter Sonski 128; Randall Terry 4.  Those individuals were all candidates but were not on the D.C. ballot.  Bishop-Henchman found many write-ins for individuals who were not candidates.  The person who received the most, after Jill Stein, was Nikki Haley, who got 630.

The reason it was necessary for a private individual to take this action is that the D.C. Board of Elections refuses to tally write-ins for president in the general election, even though there is a procedure for write-in candidates to file as such.  The candidates who had filed for write-in status were Oliver, Stein, De la Cruz, and Shiva Ayyadurai.

The policy of the Board should be considered unconstitutional.  As far back as 1915, the U.S. Supreme Court said the Constitution protects the right of voters to have their ballots counted.

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MINOR PARTIES WIN LONG STRUGGLES FOR CLEMENCY

Leonard Peltier:  on January 20, outgoing President Joe Biden communted his prison sentence, after decades of agitation by some minor parties and many other groups.  The Peace & Freedom Party had nominated him for President in 2004, in an effort to publicize his case.  Also the Party for Socialism and Liberation had nominated him for vice-president in 2020, although he did not accept that nomination.

Ross Ulbricht:   on January 21, President Donald Trump pardoned him.  He had been serving a life sentence and had been imprisoned for eleven years.  The sentence allowed no possibility of parole.  On January 22, Libertarian Party national chair Angela McArdle gave an interview for Reason Magazine, stating that the Libertarian Party can take major credit for this event.

She had been in touch with the Trump campaign since 2023 and had met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.  She said that Trump had noticed the 1,865,873 votes received by the Libertarian Party presidential nominee in 2020, and that he wanted to know how he could get some of those votes in 2024.  She asked for a pardon for Ulbricht.  When Trump made the pardon, he acknowledged the “Libertarian Movement”.  He had mentioned the idea of the pardon in May 2024 when he spoke to the Libertarian national convention.

The New York Times ran a front-page story on January 24, titled, “Pardon is Won by Leveraging Trump’s Needs”, and subtitled, “Libertarians Help Free Drug Kingpin.”

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2024 MINOR PARTY & INDP. STATE HOUSE VOTE

	Lib’t	Wrk Fam	Green	Indp Pty	Workers	Constit	Forward	other	indp.
Alaska	4,203	0	0	0	0	0	0	2,641	44,424
Arizona	0	0	39,573	0	0	0	0	0	15,946
Arkansas	15,184	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Calif.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	88,152	0
Colorado	3,584	0	0	0	0	0	8,532	20,051	3,122
Conn.	0	25,054	0	18,570	0	0	0	0	3,187
Del.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Florida	21,131	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	14,944
Georgia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hawaii	576	0	2,632	0	0	0	0	253	0
Idaho	1,056	0	0	0	0	2,524	0	0	7,725
Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12,126
Indiana	14,126	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6,139
Iowa	10,935	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kansas	10,076	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kentucky	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4,514
Maine	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	21,762
Mass.	0	0	0	0	3,540	0	1,219	2,802	104,848
Michigan	5,092	0	4,711	0	0	0	0	10,184	0
Minn.	1,298	0	3,284	0	0	0	712	3,517	848
Missouri	18,254	0	1,168	0	0	0	0	0	0
Montana	1,745	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2,320
Nevada	15,058	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1,894
N. Hamp.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5,180
N. Mex.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1,620
N. York	0	204,811	0	0	0	0	0	374,686	9,834
No. Car.	59,996	0	546	0	0	0	0	0	0
No. Dak.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ohio	16,256	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12,120
Okla.	10,907	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15,022
Oregon	3,687	0	4,781	1,252	0	0	0	0	9,159
Penn.	12,017	0	0	0	0	3,814	0	0	0
R.I.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11,647
S.Car.	12,323	0	0	0	1,412	0	0	3,502	0
S.Dak.	2,908	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9,425
Tenn.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	45,758
Texas	52,575	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4,478
Utah	799	0	0	0	0	1,560	4,783	11,859	14,100
Vermont	934	0	0	0	0	0	0	7,608	11,949
Wash.	18,623	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	105,815
W.Va.	288	0	0	0	0	1,860	0	0	399
Wisc.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9,767
Wyoming	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	865
TOTAL	313,631	229,865	56,695	19,822	4,952	9,758	15,246	525,255	510,937

2022 totals for State House were:  Libertarian 404,918; Working Families 182,135; Green 24,688; Constitution 33,156; Alliance 4,786; Conservative 327,337; other parties 73,151; independent candidates 496,454.

Parties in the other column above are:  Alaska, Alaskan Independence 1,670 and Veterans 971; California, American Independent; Colorado, Center 19,059 and Unity 992; Hawaii, We the People; Massachusetts, Pirate; Michigan, Working Class; Minnesota, Independence-Alliance; New York, Conservative; South Carolina, Alliance 2,090 and Workers 1,412; Utah, United Utah; Vermont, Progressive.

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2024 MINOR PARTY AND INDP. STATE SENATE VOTE

	Libertarian	Wrk Fam	Green	Indp Pty	Workers	Constit	Conserv	other	indp.
Alaska	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1,157	10,531
Arizona	0	0	2,076	0	0	0	0	0	6,061
Arkansas	12,371	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Calif.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Colorado	28,716	0	0	0	0	0	0	9,510	0
Conn.	0	25,837	3,957	27,751	0	0	0	0	0
Del.	0	0	0	0	0	0	1,080	0	0
Florida	0	0	0	10,022	0	0	0	0	0
Georgia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hawaii	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Idaho	6,322	0	0	0	0	5,707	0	0	9,694
Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Indiana	21,324	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Iowa	14,521	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kansas	8,663	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kentucky	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Maine	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12,079
Mass.	0	0	0	0	22,661	0	0	0	7,230
Minn.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Missouri	1,733	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Montana	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1,029
Nevada	0	0	0	0	0	2,017	0	0	2,078
N. Hamp.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
N. Mex.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
N. York	0	237,758	0	0	0	0	403,380	0	3,440
No. Car.	76,435	0	0	0	0	6,007	0	17,569	0
No. Dak.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1,533
Ohio	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Okla.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	16,117
Oregon	10,149	0	0	7,984	0	0	0	0	10,099
Penn.	3,601	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
R.I.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8,940
S.Car.	11,165	0	0	0	12,007	0	0	29,455	0
S.Dak.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4,019
Tenn.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	57,817
Texas	0	0	5,956	0	0	0	0	0	0
Utah	0	0	0	0	0	1,736	0	0	61,811
Vermont	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15,936	24,484
Wash.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
W.Va.	0	0	5,594	0	0	0	0	0	1,765
Wisc.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wyoming	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	195,000	263,595	17,583	45,757	34,668	15,467	404,460	73,627	238,727

2022 totals for State Senate were:  Libertarian 377,683; Working Families 242,272; Green 83,411; Conservative 311,939; Constitution 16,384; Independent Parties 26,513; other parties 69,945; independent candidates 228,047.

Parties in the other column above are:  Alaska, Alaskan Independence; Colorado, Unity; North Carolina, We the People; South Carolina, Alliance 12,669, United Citizens 4,779, and Workers 12,007; Vermont, Progressive.

Although there are two entries in the State Senate Conservative Party column, the two parties are not associated with each.   The Delaware Conservative Party was formed by former members of the Libertarian Party.

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NEW YORK STATE SENATOR WANTS TO DISMANTLE THE GREEN PARTY

On December 27, 2024, New York State Senator James Skoufis tweeted about the Green Party.  He said he wants to “go on permanent offense, not just taking up the legal fight during ballot access, but to dismantle these Republican-enablers’ infrastructure.”  At the time, he was a candidate for Democratic National Committee chair.   On January 16, he withdrew.

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THREE INDEPENDENTS POLLED OVER 40% FOR UTAH LEGISLATURE

On November 5, 2024, three Utah independent candidates for the legislature polled over 40% in two-person races.  It is unusual for non-major party candidates to do so well in Utah.  No one has been elected to the Utah legislature who wasn’t a Republican or a Democrat since 1956, when Clarence Albrecht won a seat.  The three independents in 2024 were Monnica Manuel, who got 42.53% for Senate district 16, Salt Lake County; Patrick Belmont, who got 45.98% for House district 3, Cache County; and Jessica Wignall, who got 44.70% for State House district 39, Salt Lake County.

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NEW YORK CONSERVATIVE PARTY POLLS 49.12% IN ONE STATE RACE

On November 5, the Conservative Party polled 49.12% of the vote for Assembly, 48^th district.  This is in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.  Starting in 2020, there has been only one candidate on the ballot in this district, Simcha Eisenstein.  Every year he is the nominee of the Democratic Party and the Conservative Party, with no other parties having a nominee.  And ever year, it is a close contest as to whether he gets more votes as a Democrat or as a Conservative.

Greens outpolled Republicans in D.C. for Delegate to the U.S. House and City Council At-Large.  For the latter, the vote was:  Green Daryl Moch 29,789; Republican Rob Simmons 24,760.  For Delegate to the U.S. House:  Green Kymone Freeman 21,873; Republican Myrtle Alexander 19,765.

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FORWARD PARTY QUALIFIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Recently, the ballot-qualified Independence Party of South Carolina changed its name to the Forward Party.  Thus, the Forward Party is now on the ballot in that state.  It is also qualified in Colorado, Florida, and Utah.

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JEFFERSONIAN PARTY QUALIFIES IN FLORIDA

On October 30, 2024, the Florida Secretary of State recognized the Jeffersonian Party.  It is only organized in Florida.  Florida now has sixteen qualified parties, far more than any other state.

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WISCONSIN GOVERNOR WANTS THE STATEWIDE INITIATIVE

On January 6, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, said he favors adding the statewide initiative process for his state.  It is somewhat unusual for Democratic Governors to advocate the initiative process.  Most of the 22 states that already have it are Republican states.  The last time any state added the initiative was Mississippi, although since then it has been eliminated in that state.

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LAST RENMANT OF NEW ALLIANCE PARTY DISSOLVES ITSELF

Recently, the non-profit organization Independent Voting announced that it is dissolving itself.  It was the most recent manifestation of the New Alliance Party’s long, complicated transformations.  It was founded by Fred Newman in 1979, and at first it ran only in New York state.  But in 1984, it went national with a presidential campaign.  In 1988, it placed Lenora Fulani on the ballot in all 51 jurisdictions.  In 1994, it changed into the Patriot Party, in combination with some Ross Perot supporters.  When Perot formed the Reform Party, the group participated in the Reform Party, but organized separately as the Committee for a Unified Independent Party, which later became Independent Voting.  It held itself out as the voice for independent voters.