New York city holds a partisan race for Mayor on November 3, 2009. Probably there will be these six candidates on that ballot:

1. Incumbent Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the Republican and Independence lines.
2. William C. Thompson, on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines.
3. Steve Christopher, on the Conservative line.
4. Rev. Billy Talen, Green Party.
5. Dan Fein, Socialist Workers Party.
6. Frances Villar, Party for Socialism and Liberation.

UPDATE: see this article in the San Francisco Bay Guardian about Billy Talen, published July 21.

The last-named two candidates have already finished their petitioning. The Green Party petition is picking up the pace; the deadline is August 16. According to GreenPartyWatch, the San Francisco city government has proclaimed July 21 to be “Rev. Billy Talen Day” in San Francisco. The resolution does not mention that he is running for Mayor of New York, but focuses on his previous activism while he lived in San Francisco.

The U.S. Census Bureau released “Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008” on July 20. The Census Bureau’s press release is here. The press release contains a link to the report itself, and the previous reports. The Census study depends on survey data, not election returns or voter registration data.

In 2008, the Census reports that 206,072,000 people could have registered and voted. However, of those, only 146,311,000 were registered. And of those who were registered, only 131,144,000 voted. So, 89.6% of the registered voters cast a ballot. But because only 71.0% were registered, the final turnout (voters divided by the number of people who could have registered and voted) was only 63.6%.

By contrast, in 2004, there were 197,005,000 people who could have registered and voted. 142,070,000 were registered. 125,736,000 voted. So, the November 2004 turnout was 63.8%, slightly higher than the 2008 turnout.

The Communist Party announced earlier this month that it will no longer produce a paper edition of its weekly newspaper, the People’s Weekly World. The paper will be an internet publication.

Very few nationally-organized political parties in the United States continue to publish a paper edition of a national newsletter or a national newspaper. The Libertarian Party still publishes the Libertarian Party News on paper (monthly), and the Socialist Workers Party still publishes The Militant on paper (weekly). UPDATE: also the Party for Socialism and Liberation publishes a bi-weekly newspaper called Liberation, and has done so for the last two years.

The Green Party no longer publishes the Green Pages on paper, except on rare occasions. The Constitution Party has never had a paper periodical, although William Shearer’s former print publications unofficially served as national party publications. The Reform Party never had a periodical either, nor did the Natural Law Party.