The December 28 issue of the Providence Journal has this comprehensive story on the state of Rhode Island politics, including a section toward the end about the Moderate Party.
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The Alaska Libertarian Party is ballot-qualified, but it will lose its spot on the ballot in the spring of 2010 unless it increases its registration to 9,786 members. According to the Alaska Libertarian Party activist who has been conducting the party’s registration drive, the party will have that many registered voters by January 1, 2010.
In 2004, the Alaska legislature passed an inane bill that requires a party to have many more registrations to be on the ballot in mid-term years, than in presidential years. Before the 2004 bill passed, parties that hadn’t met the 3% vote test needed to have registration membership equal to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. The 2004 bill changed this, so a party using the registration test must have registration of 3% of the last vote cast. Because voter turnout in Alaska, as in all states, is much higher in presidential election years than in mid-term years, the 2004 law had the effect of requiring far more registrations in mid-term years than in presidential years.
For example, the registration test in Alaska in 2006 was 9,258 registrants. Then, in 2008, it dropped to 7,124 registrants. But for 2010, it is 9,786.
In 2006, the only other time the Alaska Libertarian Party had to do a registration drive to comply with the 2004 law, the drive didn’t get completed until April 2006.
Alaska Representative Max Gruenberg has indicated he will introduce a bill in 2010 to change the registration test to a flat number of registrants, similar to laws in Colorado and Louisiana. Both of those states require exactly 1,000 registrants.
On December 22, the Center for Competitive Politics filed this 40-page amicus curiae brief in the 2nd circuit, on the side of the Connecticut Green Party, in the pending case over Connecticut’s discriminatory public funding law.
Thomas Simmons of Winchester, New Hampshire, says he is mulling over becoming the Libertarian Party’s candidate for Governor of New Hampshire in 2010. See here for his statement and information about him. Thanks to NolanChart blog for the link.
Minnesota will hold a special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat, 26th district, on January 26. The Independence Party nominee will be Roy Srp, Mayor of Waseca, a city of about 10,000 people. Five Republicans have also filed so far. There will probably be a Republican primary on January 12. Probably a Democrat will file soon. Filing closes on December 29.
The seat is vacant because the incumbent Republican resigned earlier this month to take a job as a full-time lobbyist, on behalf of racetracks who want to install slot machines. Last time this seat was up, in 2006, the vote was Republican 54.5%, Democratic 45.4%. Thanks to Gene Berkman for the news.