Vermont Progressive Party Elects Nine Members to the Legislature, the Most Ever

On November 8, nine Progressive Party member-nominees were elected to the Vermont legislature, the most ever. In the State Senate, Anthony Pollina was re-elected from Washington County. Christopher Pearson, who had been a Progressive member of the House from Burlington, was elected to the State Senate seat, replacing Progressive Senator David Zuckerman, who was elected this week to be Lieutenant Governor.

The Progressives elected seven member-nominees to the House. Re-elected were Diane Gonzalez, Robin Chesnut-Tangerman, Mollie Burke, and Sandy Haas. The party also elected Cindy Weed, who had been elected as a Progressive in 2012 but had been defeated for re-election in 2014. Also, in 2016, the party elected new legislators Celene Colburn and Brian Cina.

The only Progresive incumbent who was defeated for re-election is Susan Davis. She only lost by eight votes, and may seek a recount.

In 2014, the Progressive Party had elected eight member-nominees. In 2012, it had elected seven.

This post does not include persons who were Democratic member-nominees who also had the nomination of the Progressive Party. Vermont allows fusion. Most of the Progressive member-nominees who won this week were also nominated by the Democratic Party.

Rocky De La Fuente Wins Procedural Ruling in South Carolina Presidential Primary Ballot Access Case

On November 9, Rocky De La Fuente won a procedural point from a U.S. District Court in South Carolina, in his presidential primary ballot access lawsuit. Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, a Clinton appointee, in a two-page order, denied the request of the South Carolina Democratic Party to have the lawsuit dismissed. Now, further proceedings will be required.

The South Carolina Democratic Party had refused to list De La Fuente on its February 27, 2016 presidential primary. The refusal letter from the party, dated December 29, 2015, merely said, “The party’s executive council met on Monday, December 7, 2015, to consider all of the Democratic presidential primary campaign filings. The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the Council did not approve your filing. Enclosed you will find your check for the filing fee.”

De La Fuente sued the Democratic Party, but he didn’t file the lawsuit until February 2, 2016. He asked for an injunction, putting him on the ballot, but that was denied on February 25. The reason for the denial was (1) De La Fuente filed the lawsuit too late; (2) he wasn’t likely to win in any event, because the South Carolina Democratic Party rules were not completely arbitrary; they said only candidates who are discussed in the news media should be put on the primary ballot. The judge said similar rules had been upheld in other states in the 1980’s. But, the case was still alive.

This case may be important if it causes states to re-think their laws that say presidential primary ballot access should be automatically granted to candidates discussed in the news media. Although such laws were mostly upheld in 1980 and 1984, “media” has changed substantially since then. De La Fuente has been arguing in this case that such laws fail to specify which type of news media matter, leaving a candidate without a way to know whether he or she will be chosen.

Libertarian Party Becomes First Nationally-Organized Party, Other than the Republican and Democratic Parties, to Have 500,000 Registrants

The Libertarian Party now has approximately 500,000 registrants. It is the first nationally-organized party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, to have that many. The Libertarian Party had 411,250 registrants in February 2016, and in all previous years, had never had as many as 400,000.

The exact number will be known next week, when Pennsylvania furnishes the data.

The Constitution Party’s highest registration total had been 384,722 in February 2008. It declined sharply afterwards, because the California unit of the party, the American Independent Party, which had 85% of the party’s national registration, withdrew its affiliation with the national party in August 2008.

The highest Green Party registration was in October 2004, when the party had 312,963.

The American Independent Party of California also has more than 500,000 registrants. It has 507,377 in California. It is not a nationally-organized party, and its presidential nominee this year was Donald Trump. The current tally is the first tally at which the AIP has had as many as 500,000 registrants.

The Progressive Party of 1948 had 228,668 registrants in New York (under the American Labor Party label) and 22,461 in California, but very few in any other state.

Most states couldn’t furnish any statewide registration data before World War II. In many states, there was no such thing as voter registration except in large cities, so there were no statewide totals. Even as late as 1968, Ohio, for example, only had voter registration in urban counties.

New Idaho Registration Data

The Idaho Secretary of State has posted the November 1, 2016 registration data. The new percentages are: Republican 48.27%; Democratic 10.64%; Libertarian .64%; Constitution .32%; independent and miscellaneous 40.13%.

In February 2016, the percentages were: Republican 40.30%; Democratic 9.53%; Libertarian .63%; Constitution .31%; independent and miscellaneous 49.23%.