TAMPA (FOX 13) – Hundreds of thousands of voters registered with the Independent Party of Florida started receiving letters this week notifying them that their political party has disbanded. The move has left the party founder, Ernie Bach of Largo, furious with what he considers an over-reaction by the Florida Division of Elections.
“It’s a bureaucratic boondoggle that is unbelievable,” Bach told FOX 13 Tuesday. “According to the Division of Elections, they have obliterated the status of all Independent voters in the state of Florida. We now have zero.”
Read the rest of the article here.
I don’t think there’s anything intrinsically wrong with naming a party Independent or some variety thereof, but it is often intentionally confusing and it seems that a lot of these parties do little but thrive off that confusion with non-partisan.
Massachusetts has “United Independent Party”, which is currently a political designation.
The Independence Party of New York had more candidates who were not also major party nominees in the last decade, when the old New Alliance group participated in the Independence Party. They have stopped doing that. So in 2016, there was only one Independence Party candidate for congress or legislature who wasn’t a Dem or Rep nominee.
Not to mention the “Independence” party in New York which stands for nothing and just acts as another ballot line for whatever candidate they support. They don’t (as far as I can remember) run their own candidates.
Actually, if I remember, I voted for Gary Johnson on the Independence line rather than Libertarian by accident. I was rushing and realized it Just as I was about to scan my ballot.
sorry about the duplicate post. . . it had my e-mail wrong in the prior one
Not to mention the “Independence” party in New York which stands for nothing and just acts as another ballot line for whatever candidate they support. They don’t (as far as I can remember) run their own candidates.
Actually, if I remember, I voted for Gary Johnson on the Independence line rather than Libertarian by accident. I was rushing and realized it Just as I was about to scan my ballot.
There are, or have been, ballot-qualified parties named “Independent Party” in Arkansas (1992-1994), Connecticut (currently), Delaware (currently), Florida, Hawaii (2014-2016), Louisiana (currently), Maryland (2004), New Mexico (2004-2008), North Carolina (1980), Oregon (currently), South Carolina (1970-1980), and Utah (1990’s…Merrill Cook’s party).
The Florida Independent Party had two nominees on the ballot for legislature in 2012. Nancy Argenziano got 42.03% in the 34th house district, and Kerry Babb got 32.66% in the 78th district.
There is a party in California called Independent Party, but the Secretary of State refuses to tally up how many registered voters it has. It probably has enough to be qualified. The party is suing. The case is in the 9th circuit.
Why was there even a party called the “Independent” Party. Isn’t that an oxymoron?
This is a very rare occasion where I agree with Andy. It’s likely that most of these people didn’t even realize that there was such a party and meant to register with no party affiliation.
wolfefan said: “That’s it. For a party with over 200,000 members they don’t seem to have been all that active – not unlike the CA AIP.”
This was a case of lots of people who meant to register as independents, or with no political party, who did not realize that there was an actual party called the Independent Party.
FWIW, the party appears to have run no candidates in 2016, but did endorse Hillary Clinton after rescinding their endorsement of Evan McMullin. They endorsed one Democratic congressional candidate and one candidate for Hillsborough County Property Appraiser. That’s it. For a party with over 200,000 members they don’t seem to have been all that active – not unlike the CA AIP.
It seems in Florida that voters are just meat to be rebranded at will by the Ds and Rs who control elections. Those state-sponsored partisans need to feel the heat.