Delaware is the only state in which the sole determinant of whether a party is ballot-qualified is how many registered voters it has. Delaware created this system in 1978, and said any party with registration membership of one-twentieth of 1% is ballot-qualified. Vote returns are irrelevant.
Early this year, Delaware changed the requirement from one-twentieth of 1% to one-tenth of 1%, and made it effective immediately. Now the Commissioner of Elections, cognizant that it is not easy for a qualified minor party to double in size in a matter of months, has asked the legislature to pass a bill, effective immediately, to postpone the new tougher requirement until 2011. Generally the Delaware legislature follows the recommendations of the Elections Commissioner, on election law matters.
Delaware has severe restrictions on the ability of voters to change parties during an election year. The restrictions on voters changing parties are more severe than any other state except New York.
Among the parties that want to participate in this year’s election, the Constitution Party is most severely disadvantaged by the new requirement, because it is smaller than the other active minor parties.
Richard:
I understand there is a Delaware Independent Party organized. Do they have enough registered members to make the new threshold? I can understand the Constitution Party not making it, but I would think the Delaware Independent Party with the word “Independent” in its name would have no trouble meeting the current requirement.
What are the registration totals for that party?
Yes, the Independent Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Working Families Party, meet the one-tenth of 1% test. And the Greens are close to meeting it.