Tennessee State Senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) has introduced SB 129, which has two purposes. It lowers the number of signatures to qualify a new or previously unqualified party, from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote.

Also, it provides that the voter registration form ask voters if they wish to register into a party, and provides that voters would not be allowed to vote in a primary unless were registered members of the party. However, an exception would be made for voters voting in their first primary after the bill took effect. Currently, Tennessee doesn’t have registration by party.

The bill is faulty for not recognizing that political parties have a right to invite independent voters into their primaries if they wish. Also the bill is vague because it doesn’t explain whether or not voters could register into an unqualified party.

The portion of the bill that lowers the number of signatures to qualify a new party is in response to the September 2010 decision of a U.S. District Court that the old petition requirement is unconstitutional. However, the bill still implies that signing a petition means the signer is a member of the party, and the court decision said that was impermissible. Voters must be allowed to say that they desire that a new party be recognized, without necessarily being members of that party. The bill retains the wording that says “For one year after petitioning successfully, a political party which has a membership equal to 1% of the total number of votes cast for gubernatorial elections as shown by petitions to establish a political party” is qualified. The term “membership” should be deleted from the description of the petition, if the bill’s sponsor wants a law that is constitutional. Also, the bill does nothing to alter the April petition deadline, which the court said is too early.

On January 18, Alaska Representative Max Gruenberg (D-Anchorage) introduced HB 96. It eases the definition of “political party” to a group that has at least 2,500 registered members. Currently, the number of registered voters a group needs to be a qualified party is 3% of the vote cast in the last election. That number varies according to whether the last election was a high-turnout presidential election, or a lower-turnout midterm election, and ranges from 7,000 to 10,000.

On January 12, Pennsylvania State Senator Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon) again introduced the Voter Choice Act that he had introduced in 2009. This year it is Senate Bill 21. It changes the definition of “political party” to a group that has registration of at least one-twentieth of 1% of the number of registered voters. If this bill were in effect, the Constitution, Green and Libertarian Parties would be recognized as parties, along with the Democratic and Republican Parties. Currently, only the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian Parties are recognized as parties. The existing law says a “party” is a group that polled 2% of the winner’s vote for either of the last two statewide elections (the Libertarians met the vote test in 2009).

The bill also says that qualified parties with less than 15% of the voter registration may nominate by convention, and inform election officials of their nominees no later than 8 weeks before the general election. They would not need any petitions. Currently, parties with less than 15% of the voter registration must submit petitions for all of their nominees (except they need no petition for special elections), and these petition requirements, for statewide office, can range all the way from 20,000 signatures to 67,000 valid signatures, because the formula for determining the number of signatures is erratic.

The bill also helps independent candidates, by cutting the number of signatures they need down to the same number of signatures that candidates running in a party primary need. Currently, statewide candidates in a primary need 2,000 signatures.