The United Independent Party of Massachusetts became ballot-qualified on November 4, when it polled over 3% for a statewide office (for Governor, for Evan Falchuk). However, it will go off the ballot in November 2016 unless it polls 3% in that election as well, and the only statewide offices up in 2016 in Massachusetts is President.

However, the party can also remain ballot-qualified if its statewide registration rises to 1% of the state total. According to this news story, the party is already starting to work on its registration drive. The 1% registration alternative to obtaining or retaining party status has only existed since 1991, and it has never been used.

The story says that the current voter registration form on the Massachusetts state government web page is so obsolete, it still shows the name of another minor party (which the story doesn’t name, but which probably refers to the Green-Rainbow Party) which lost its status two years ago. This part of the story seems not to be correct. Here is a link to the Massachusetts registration form, showing only the Democratic and Republican Parties. New forms, when they are produced, will list four parties, including the Green-Rainbow Party, which regained its party status by polling over 3% last year for some of the less important statewide offices.

At the October 2014 tally, the United Independent Party only had 83 registered voters. It will need approximately 45,000.

New York election law regulates political parties very heavily. This interesting article explains the election laws that apply to groups that become ballot-qualified for the first time. The focus of the article is on the Women’s Equality Party.

Arit John has this article on Bloomberg, discussing ideas for improving voter turnout. It mentions redistricting reform, universal registration (in which the government prepares the voter registration list, so that individuals don’t need to register), mandatory voting, and proportional representation. It does not mention ballot access or altering primary systems. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.