If anyone can assist with my research project, please comment below, or else send me an e-mail at richardwinger@yahoo.com. The research project is to determine which state constitutions mention political parties. It has already been determined that the state constitutions of at least 34 states do mention them.

If anyone can find any mention of “political party” or “partisan” or “non-partisan” in the text of these 16 state Constitutions, please let me know: Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin. I have already read the state constitutions of these 16 states, and I can’t find any of the terms. But it is easy to miss a short phrase in a lengthy document, and possibly one of you will find something I missed. Thank you very much.

In a few states, various parties are working on getting on the 2014 ballot. The Libertarian Party has begun its Hawaii petition, and has approximately 150 signatures. The requirement is 706 signatures. The Constitution Party is working to obtain 1,000 registered members in Louisiana, and believes it now has 130. The Green Parties of Arizona and Nevada are also working on registration drives. The Nevada requirement is either 9,738 signatures or 9,738 registrations. The state won’t tally how many Greens there are until and unless they get enough. The Arizona requirement cannot be known exactly but it will probably be approximately 22,000 registrants and Greens have approximately 5,200 registrants.

Arkansas requires 10,000 signatures, but they must all be collected in any 90-day period of the party’s choice. Both the Libertarian Party and the Green Party are raising money and getting organized so that they can do their drives during the last three months of 2013.

On April 17, Washington Governor Jay Inslee vetoed part of SB 5518. If he had signed it, it would have inadvertently increased the difficulty for new minor parties to place presidential nominees on the November ballot. The veto would not have occurred if the Freedom Socialist Party had not noticed the problem, and persuaded the Secretary of State to ask the Governor to veto part of the bill. In Washington state, Governors can veto parts of bills; they don’t need to sign or veto the entire bill.

Existing law lets minor parties hold multiple nominating conventions at various places around the state. At least 1,000 voters must sign in as having attended one of these meetings. Meetings, to be valid, must have at least 25 attendees. Obviously it is far easier to get a total statewide attendance of 1,000, if the signatures can be collected at different places around the state. But independent presidential candidates must get all of their 1,000 signatures in one location.

SB 5518, by changing the definition of “minor political party” for campaign finance purposes, unthinkingly also changed it for ballot access purposes, so that a minor party that had not appeared on the ballot in the last presidential election would have needed to get all its signatures in one place. The Freedom Socialist Party did not place its presidential nominee on the ballot in Washington state in 2012, so if it does intend to place a presidential nominee on the Washington state ballot in 2016, it would have been adversely affected. Also adversely affected would have been any other party that comes into existence for the 2016 election. Thanks to Fred Hyde for this news.