On February 5, the California Secretary of State released new registration data, as of January 5, 2010.

The new figures are: Democratic 44.623%, Republican 30.752%, American Independent 2.261%, Green .659%, Libertarian .499%, Peace & Freedom .326%, Reform .140%, independent and miscellaneous 20.740%.

The last figures released were from May 2009. At the time, those percentages were: Democratic 44.553%, Republican 31.047%, American Independent 2.194%, Green .664%, Libertarian .486%, Peace & Freedom .324%, Reform .146%, independent and miscellaneous 20.587%.

To see the numbers, see here. The Reform Party is not ballot-qualified but the state keeps track of its registrations. However, Sacramento County doesn’t report the number of registrants in the Reform Party, so the Reform Party actually has about 900 more registrants than the official figures show.

The number of registered voters declined since May 2009, due to election officials purging the rolls. The only two parties that actually have more registered voters than they did in May 2009 are the American Independent Party and the Libertarian Party.

The Illinois primary of February 2 featured a 6-candidate race for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor. The race included four Democratic state legislators and a political newcomer, Scott Lee Cohen. To the surprise of almost everyone, Cohen won the primary with 26.0% of the vote.

Cohen has personal foibles, as described in this Chicago Sun-Times article. In Illinois, candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor run as a team in the general election, even though at the primary, the offices are voted on separately. The article also mentions that reporters asked Governor Pat Quinn if he might consider resigning from the Democratic ticket, and run as an independent candidate, so as to free himself from being on a joint ticket with Cohen. The Governor replied, “Let’s take a look at how the situation evolves.” Obviously the Governor is hoping that Cohen will resign from being the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor.

In 1986, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Adlai Stevenson resigned from the Democratic ticket after the primary had produced a situation in which his Lieutenant Governor running mate was otherwise going to be a follower of Lyndon LaRouche. Back then, Stevenson was not permitted to run as an independent candidate because he had already missed the filing deadline, so Stevenson qualified as the nominee of a new party, with an entirely different Lieutenant Governor running mate. The new party was the Illinois Solidarity Party. The Illinois Solidarity Party, with Stevenson as its gubernatorial running mate, polled 40% for Governor. The Democratic party slate that year had no one for Governor and the LaRouche follower for Lieutenant Governor, and that joint slate polled 7%. If the Democratic Party combination of no one for Governor and the LaRouche follower for Lieutenant Governor had polled under 5%, the Democratic Party would have lost its standing as a qualified party for all partisan office in the state. It would have retained its status as a qualified party for most district offices and all statewide offices, but it would have been off the ballot in those districts in which it had not run any nominee, which would have included a large number of legislative districts and partisan county offices.

Nowadays, the independent petition deadline is much later, and Quinn, if he wished, could run as an independent candidate with a new Lieutenant Governor candidate.

Senator David Shafer (R-Duluth) has introduced SB 359, which improves ballot access for parties that have already attained qualified status for statewide office, and also partially legalizes fusion.

The biggest change made by the bill is that it expands ballot access to all partisan office, for parties that are in the present situation of the Libertarian Party. The Libertarian Party is ballot-qualified for the statewide offices as long as it continues to poll 1% for any statewide nominee (technically, the 1% is 1% of the number of registered voters, not 1% of the vote cast in that race, so the vote test more accurately is a 1.5% vote test). The Libertarian Party got statewide status in 1988, when it completed a petition of 1% of the number of registered voters.

The bill says that such statewide parties would now be ballot-qualified for all offices, not just the statewide offices. If the bill passed, the Libertarian Party could run candidates for all partisan offices with no petition. Of course this change would help other minor parties in the future, if they could just complete the 1% statewide petition. Other parties that have managed to complete the 1% petition, in the past, have been the New Alliance Party and the Reform Party. However, the 1% statewide petition is tough, and the Green Party, the Natural Law Party, and the Constitution Party, have never managed to comply with it. The 1% petition procedure was passed by the legislature in 1986.

The bill also says that fusion would be permitted between a major qualified party (one that had polled over 20% of the vote for Governor or President) and a qualified minor party (one that had polled over 1%, but under 20%). Oddly enough, though, the bill would not legalize fusion between two qualified minor parties, nor would it legalize fusion between two major parties, nor would it permit fusion involving an independent candidate. Thanks to Bryan Sells, and also Bill Van Allen, for this news.

Senator Shafer has been a State Senator since 2002. In the 1990’s, he was Executive Director of the Republican Party. He is an influential Senator, and Republicans have a majority in both houses of the legislature and hold the Governorship.