In the last few months, two new parties qualified for the Oregon ballot, the Working Families Party, and the Independent Party. They each did this with a petition drive.

Like most states that have registration by party, the Oregon voter registration forms list all the qualified parties. Oregon’s Secretary of State initially told the two new parties that it would cost too much money for him to reprint the voter registration forms, and that for the next year, he would continue using up old forms that don’t list the two new parties. But after the Attorney General of Oregon expressed an informal opinion that such behavior might be held unconstitutional, the Secretary of State changed his mind. The new forms will be available everywhere by early July 2007. Thanks to Dan Meek for this news.

On April 5, the 3rd circuit denied a rehearing in Rogers v Corbett, the ballot access case filed by the Green, Constitution and Libertarian Parties last year. The issue was whether the state could force a party to submit 67,070 signatures to place its statewide nominees on the ballot, if it had polled enough votes in the prior election to meet the state’s definition of “political party”. A rehearing request had been pending since August 2006.

Now, the case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On April 5, Colorado SB 83 passed the State Senate. It lets qualified minor parties nominate someone who has been a member of another party during the preceding year (major parties in Colorado already have this right). It also eases restrictions on who can circulate a petition, and also makes it easier for ex-felons to register to vote.