Kentucky State Board of Elections has released the first-ever registration data for minor parties. The state totals as of Dec. 21, 2005, are 56 Libertarians, 20 Greens, 7 Constitution Party, 3 Reform Party, 533 independents. These figures are small because the regulation empowering the collection of this data only applies to registration forms filled out later than Nov. 15, 2005.
The Labor Party was formed in 1990 by Tony Mazzocchi, but until this year, it never attempted to qualify as a political party in any state. However, a few weeks ago, the Labor Party launched a petition drive to qualify itself for the South Carolina ballot. The election law says these signatures are due six months before the November 2006, which works out to May 7, 2006. However, the South Carolina Election Commission has told the Labor Party that it really ought to submit its petitions by January 31, 2006, so the party is attempting t0 meet that deadline. The party says it chose South Carolina because the vast majority of the state’s adult population are workers, and that neither major party in that state serves their interests.
A hearing will be held in US District Court in Utah on January 25, 2006, in International Assn. of United Workers Union v United Mine Workers of America. This is the case in which a company union is suing, among others, The Militant (newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party) for slander, concerning how The Militant reported a labor union dispute.
On December 20, the Reform Party appealed an order of the U.S. District Court in Florida that had ordered the party to repay $333,558 to the Federal Election Commission. FEC v Reform Party of USA.
A poll for the U.S. Senate race in Connecticut was released by Rasmussen Polling Company. It shows 54% for incumbent Democrat Joseph Lieberman, 37% for potential independent candidate Lowell Weicker, 7% “other”, and 7% “not sure”. No Republican was named, since no one knows who the Republican nominee will be. The poll was taken on December 8.
