Virginia elects state legislators in November of odd years. This year over half of the races have only one candidate on the ballot. For the 100 House races, only one person is on the ballot in 62 districts. For the State Senate, only one person is on the ballot in 20 of the 40 races. Thanks to Sandy Sanders for this information. Sanders is working to find a sponsor for a bill in next year’s session to ease the definition of “political party.” Current law says it is a group that polled 10% for any statewide race at either of the last two elections. Virginia’s 10% is higher than any other state, except Alabama is 20% and New Jersey and Oklahoma are also 10%. Also Georgia has a 1% vote test for statewide office but 20% for party status for the district offices.

This New York Times story says in the 8th paragraph from the bottom that Donald Trump enjoys more support among registered independents than he does among registered Republicans.

The Sun Chronicle, a daily newspaper in Attleboro, Massachusetts, has this article on the 25 groups that have asked Massachusetts election officials to keep track of how many registered members they have.

The story doesn’t actually explain to its readers why Massachusetts lets groups file to have their registrations tallied. Starting in 1991, any group that has registration of at least 1% of the total state registration becomes a newly-qualified party. No group has ever managed to achieve 1%.

Other states in which unqualified parties can file to have their registrations tallied are Alaska, California, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, New Jersey, and New York. Sometimes the request must be accompanied with other requirements. New York only keeps the tally for groups that had a statewide candidate on the ballot in a gubernatorial election; Iowa only does it for groups that submit 950 signatures on a petition. Delaware and Louisiana keep track of registration in every group, whether that groups asks for a tally or not.