Bridgeport, Connecticut, like other towns in that state, is hold local partisan elections on November 3, 2009. In Bridgeport, and certain other Connecticut towns, no one political party is permitted to run a full slate of candidates. This guarantees that local legislative bodies will not be comprised entirely of members of the strongest party.

Because the second-biggest party is guaranteed to win some seats, generally the Bridgeport city council and School Board are composed of Democratic and Republican nominees. However, this year, observers feel that it is not clear whether the Working Families Party or the Republican Party will win the seats reserved for the second strongest party. And, in the School Board race, one Republican member, Sauda Efia Baraka, who was denied renomination by the Republican Party is running for re-election as the Working Families Party nominee. See this story.

Utah registration as of October 19, 2009, has been tallied by the Utah state elections office. It shows: independent and unqualified parties 51.51%, Republican 39.35%, Democratic 8.76%, Libertarian .22%, Constitution .16%.

A year ago, the percentages were: independent and unqualified parties 49.13%, Republican 41.60%, Democratic 8.93%, Libertarian .20%, Constitution .14%. Thanks to Frank Fluckiger for the new data.

On October 30, the Illinois Senate voted unanimously to override Governor Pat Quinn’s veto of HB 723. Thus, the bill becomes law. It makes it more difficult for ballot-qualified parties to nominate candidates, after the February primary (the nation’s earliest Congressional primary in history) is over. Existing law lets ballot-qualified parties nominate by party meeting, if the primary didn’t produce a nominee. The new law still permits this, but says such nominees need a petition.

Most observers feel the bill was motivated by the fact that the Green Party became a fully-qualified party in November 2006. Major party legislators in Illinois are not accustomed to having a qualified party on the ballot (other than the Democratic and Republican Parties), and they are certainly not accustomed to having minor party or independent candidates running against them. The only parties, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, that have been fully ballot-qualified in the last 80 years have been the Green Party currently, and the Illinois Solidarity Party 1986-1990.

The petition for unqualified parties to run candidates for the legislature is 5% of the last vote cast, so generally, during the last 70 years, there have been very few minor party candidates on the general election ballot for legislature.

Candidates for Illinois primaries need petitions to get on the primary ballot, and those petitions are due November 2, 2009, for the 2010 elections.