The June 2006 Journal of Politics carries a political science article titled, “The Decline of Third Party Voting in the United States.” The authors are Professor Shigeo Hirano of Columbia, and Professor James M. Snyder of MIT. The article can be read here.

The article covers the period 1890 to the present. The title is misleading. The article says that third parties polled high shares of the vote between 1890 and 1920, and then low shares 1940-1970, and since 1970 it has risen again. The article seems not to discuss the period 1920-1940. The article is somewhat confusing because the authors never say whether they are including independent candidates in their study. They use the terms “two party system” and “third party” but don’t define either one.

The article introduces the idea that ballot access barriers may be responsible for the decline between 1920 and the period 1940-1970, but then they shy away from trying to determine if ballot access barriers are responsible for the decline. They say, “Ballot access restrictions varied across states over time. The information on specific ballot access restrictions is not readily available and consequently is not used in our analysis.” Of course, it is readily available, and was published in Richard Winger’s article in the Election Law Journal, vol. 5, no. 2. Appendix “F” gives the number of signatures needed for new party or independent candidate ballot access, for each state, for the entire period starting in 1892. But Professors Hirano and Snyder were apparently unaware of that resource.

UPDATE: the authors advise that they did include independent candidates in their compilation.

The Washington House State Government Hearing holds a hearing on HB 1534 on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 10 am. That bill revises procedures for minor party and independent candidates, and makes them slightly better. The bill was written by the office of Sam Reed, Secretary of State. Unfortunately the bill also imposes a minimum vote test on ballot-qualified parties; their nominees must not only get more votes than anyone running against them in their own primary, but those nominees must also poll a certain number of votes to be nominated. The only other state with such a requirement is North Dakota.

Back on October 13, 2006, three minor parties in New Jersey filed an important lawsuit dealing with many New Jersey election laws that discriminate against all parties except the Democratic and Republican Parties. The lawsuit is Green Party of N.J. v State, Mercer Co. Chancery Court, MER-C-125-06. Last year, the state had requested an extension until Saturday, February 3. As of 1 pm eastern standard time, the state’s answer still has not arrived at the court clerk’s office, nor at the office of the attorneys who filed the case, and the state will be in default if its answer hasn’t arrived by the close of business today.

UPDATE: The state is in default, since its answer still has not arrived as of 2 pm eastern time, February 6.