Alabama held its Democratic primary on June 6. The Democratic primary race for Secretary of State was between incumbent Nancy Worley, and Ed Packard, who has been head of the Elections Division within that office. Packard has been sympathetic to minor parties and independent candidates, whereas Worley has been uninterested. Worley won the primary by a ratio of approximately 3 to 1.

It is somewhat plausible that Alabama will be the only state in the US in November 2006 with a Democratic-Republican monopoly on the ballot for statewide office. Alabama is the only state with a petition requirement for Governor (for the easier of the minor party or independent routes to the ballot) in excess of 2% of the last vote cast. Alabama’s requirement is 3% of the last vote cast.

On June 6, the Louisiana House Governmental Affairs Committee passed Senate Bill 18, by a vote of 6-1. This is the bill to provide for closed primaries for congressional elections. It has already passed the Senate. It provides for primaries for all qualified parties. Louisiana has 5 qualified parties: Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green and Reform. The bill would provide that if a party has no contested primaries, then that party’s primary would not be held, and the single individual who filed, would be deemed nominated.

On June 3, the Working Families Party of New York cross-endorsed the Democrats running for U.S. Senator and Governor. For U.S. Senate, Jonathan Tasini, who is critical of U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton’s stance on the Iraq war, had hoped to get at least 25% of the vote, so that he could qualify automatically for the party’s primary ballot. However, he only got 6%.