On November 3, the New York State Board of Elections released new voter registration data. See this link.

The Board’s website did not reveal the number of registrants in any of the unqualified parties, but the Board does keep this data and this post will be updated when that data has been obtained. For the time being, the number of voters registered in unqualified parties is in the “Other” column on the Board’s website.

Some New York newspapers are erroneously saying that the registrants in the unqualified parties have been converted to independent voters. This is not true.

The new percentages are: Democratic 50.12%; Republican 21.99%; Conservative 1.26%; Working Families .37%; unqualified parties 3.56%; independents 22.71%. In New York, election officials use the term “blanks” to mean independent voters.

In February 2021, when the last tally was released, the percentages were: Democratic 50.05%; Republican 22.11%; Conservative 1.25%; Working Families .36%; unqualified parties 3.73%; independent 22.50%.

These percentages are for active voters. Ballot Access News has been reporting the number of registered voters in each party since 1992, and has always reported active voter data.

Earlier this year, Nebraska changed its law so that a party petition no longer has infinite time to circulate. A petition to recognize a new party can now only start the day after a general election. Therefore, it must be completed within the period between elections. That is still a considerable amount of time. The bill, LB 285, was signed into law by Governor Pete Ricketts on May 26, 2021. The bill had many other election law provisions as well.

The SAM Party nominee for First Selectman of Newtown, Connecticut, was elected on November 2. “First selectman” is somewhat analogous to Mayor. The party’s nominee, Dan Rosenthal, was the incumbent. He had been previously elected as a Democrat, but he won this year as the SAM nominee. He was unopposed. Newtown has a population of 28,000 and is in Fairfield County.

The SAM Party is a centrist party that first ran candidates in 2018.