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.

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.

The U.S. Postal Service promulgated a new regulation on December 1, 2005, allowing petitioning on sidewalks that are parallel to streets. Petitioning on sidewalks that go from a parking lot to the door of the post office is still illegal, but the constitutionality of that ban is now back in U.S. District Court. The new regulation says that people can stand on any sidewalks and ask people to sign, but the person holding the clipboard must be on a sidewalk that is parallel to the street, not on an interior sidewalk.