The Green Party, and the Working Families Party, each now have enough registrations in Delaware to be on the November 2012 ballot. The Constitution Party still doesn’t have enough registrants. It is possible there are enough voter registration cards in which voters have joined the Constitution Party, but if so, the cards still haven’t been submitted to elections officials.

The Constitution Party, and any unqualified party, has until August 21 to get enough registrations. However, it will be difficult for a group to increase its registration in Delaware, because Delaware doesn’t permit voters to change parties during June or July or August. Groups can still find unregistered individuals and persuade them to register as a member of that group. Thanks to David McCorquodale for the news about the Green Party and the Working Families Party.

On May 21, Maine Governor Paul LePage signed LD 1826, which eliminates the area of the state income tax form that asks taxpayers if they wish to send a small donation to the taxpayer’s favorite political party. Maine is the second state in recent years to eliminate this assistance to political parties. The other such state is Idaho.

A bill in Utah to do the same thing failed to pass this year.

On June 1, Rasmussen Polls released partial results of a poll conducted on May 30-31, which included the question, “Does the current election system discourage third party challengers?” 63% of likely voters said “Yes”, and only 24% said “No.” The other 13% were undecided.

The same poll asked “Who should pay for the primary elections used to select Republican and Democratic candidates for office – the government or the political parties?”. It also asked “In many states, nominees of the Republican and Democratic Parties automatically get on the ballot. However, third party candidates often need to conduct petition drives and get thousands of signatures to get on the ballot. If third party candidates need to submit signatures to get on the ballot, should Republicans and Democrats have to do the same?”

However, the results of the latter two questions are not public; one must be a Rasmussen subscriber to see those results. Thanks to Eric O’Keefe for this news.