The only nationally-organized minor party that elected any state legislators this month was the Constitution Party, in Montana. Greens and Libertarians had expected to elect some also.

Greens already had one state representative in Maine, John Eder of Portland. He was defeated for re-election in a 2-person race with 48.4% of the vote, in the 118th House district.

In Maine’s 119th House district, Green Matthew Reading polled 41.8% in a 3-party race, easily defeating his Republican opponent but losing to his Democratic opponent by about 150 votes.

In Maine’s 120th House district, Green Ben Meiklejohn, a member of the Portland School Board, polled 43.1% in a two-person race, losing to an incumbent Democrat.

Easing the sting for Maine Greens was the fact that they elected their first members to the Portland City Council. City council elections are non-partisan. Kevin Donaghue, 27, won his 3-person race with 47.4% of the vote. David Marshall, 28, won his 3-way race with 45.4% of the vote. No Portland Green member had ever before been elected to the Portland city council, which has nine members.

Portland’s School Committee continues to have four Greens, from a total membership of nine. One incumbent Green was defeated for re-election, but in another district, Greens gained a member.

Libertarians hoped for some legislative victories in Vermont, since five Libertarians had won the Republican primary, as well as the Libertarian convention nomination. However, all five were defeated in the general election. The closest showing was in the Rutland 5-1 House district, where Jeff Manney lost a two-person race with 43.6% of the vote. The second closest showing was in the Grand Isle-Chitten House district, where Hardy Machia lost a two-person race with 37.2% of the vote. The others polled 24.0%, 30.2%, and 28.9%.

At the November 7, 2006 election, each political party received this number of votes for the top office on the ballot: Democratic 40,264,560 (49.28%); Republican 37,379,872 (45.75%), Green 949,185 (1.16%), Libertarian 778,395 (.95%), Constitution 193,063 (.24%), Reform 97,677 (.12%), other parties that had their own nominees 245,289 (.30%), Independent Candidates 1,797,050 (2.20%).

Top-most office means Governor, in the 36 states that elected a Governor. For the others, it means U.S. Senate. In the three states that didn’t elect either, it is U.S. House.

In most states, the figures are still unofficial, so these totals will eventually be somewhat different.

Using this benchmark (the vote in the nation for the top-most office), this was the best mid-term year the Green Party has ever had, and the second best mid-term year the Libertarian Party ever had (2002 was better for Libertarians than 2006, partly because the party was on the ballot in more states in 2002 than it was in 2006).

Most states enable a group that is not yet a qualified party, but which wants to become a qualified party, to circulate a petition that has the sole function of qualifying that group as a party. Such petitions are commonly called “party petitions”, and do not carry the names of any candidates.

Unfortunately, eleven states don’t have such “party petitions”, or any other procedure for turning a group into a qualified party in advance of any election. These eleven “bad” states force a group to circulate a candidate petition. If the candidate polls enough votes, then the group becomes a qualified party.

In these states that require candidate petitions to be circulated, it is generally legal for a group that wishes to start before it has chosen its presidential nominee to show a stand-in presidential candidate on the petition. Then, when the party chooses its actual presidential candidate, the stand-in withdraws and the group is permitted to substitute the name of the actual candidate.

Minor parties with experience understand this, and generally choose a stand-in presidential candidate. The Constitution Party has already chosen its stand-in presidential candidate. He is Jim Clymer, the party’s national chair, and already petitions with his name are being prepared for the Constitution Party of West Virginia, which wants to begin petitioning very soon.