Independence Party of New York 2018 Election Showing Was the Weakest Since 1990’s

Posted on by January 9, 2019
3

The New York Independence Party has been ballot-qualified starting in November 1994. Its share of the vote for its nominees (in the districts in which it had nominees) was the lowest in 2018 since the 1990’s.

For U.S. House, its nominees polled 1.47% of the vote (in the districts that it contested), the lowest in history.

For State Senate, its nominees polled 3.39%, the lowest since 1998. The 1998 percentage was 2.93%.

For Assembly, the 2018 percentage was 2.98%, the lowest since it has been a qualified party.

For the office at the top of the ballot (President in presidential years, and Governor in gubernatorial years), its 2018 percentage was 1.13%, the lowest in its history, except 2000, when it nominated John Hagelin for President and he only polled .36%. Hagelin was also the Natural Law Party nominee that year.

In general, all of the New York minor parties that mostly nominate Democratic and Republican nominees as their own nominees, did poorly in 2018. Perhaps New York voters are getting weary of the “fusion” parties.

Fourth Circuit Strikes Down Virginia Law that Lets Incumbents Dictate Nomination Method

Posted on by January 15, 2019
7

On January 9, the Fourth Circuit issued a 24-page in Sixth Congressional District Republican Committee v Alcorn, 18-1111. The opinion strikes down the Virginia election law that lets incumbents who are running for re-election dictate to their own party, how that party nominates in that particular race. Generally parties in Virginia are free to choose primary or convention, but the law at issue curtailed the party of the power to choose, when the incumbent running for re-election didn’t agree with the party’s wishes. The decision is by Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee. It is also signed by Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, a Clinton appointee; and Judge Allyson K. Duncan, a Bush Jr. appointee.

The opinion says, “The weight of this burden (on political parties) could not be more obvious. The members of the 6th Congressional District Committee have, as generations of Americans did before them, banded together to advance their political views…At the ‘crucial juncture’ at which the members of this political association decide how to select their nominee, the Commonwealth has taken the decision out of their hands. No matter what method of nomination the members of this party may prefer, Virginia law decrees that they must give way to the desire of the incumbent to hold a primary if that incumbent was himself selected by primary previously and is seeking reelection.”

Another Amicus Filed in U.S. Supreme Court on the Side of Political Party Associational Rights

Posted on by January 8, 2019
17

On January 3, two Christian groups filed an amicus curiae in Utah Republican Party v Cox, 18-450. They are the U.S. Pastor Council and the Christian Life Center, a Utah church. They argue in favor of the Utah Republican Party, which is hoping the Court will accept their case. The issue is the extent to which state governments can tell parties how to choose nominees. Here is the amicus.