Original post here. Among parties other than Democrats and Republicans, it appears the Libertarians held steady in percentage (presumably, this means a higher raw number, since a lot of people registered to vote for the first time in a high turnout presidential election). The bulk of the “Constitution Party” total comes from the AIP in California, which ran Keyes this year. The combined AIP/CP total went up slightly in percentage terms, and the Greens went down by a bit.
The number of registered members in each party, in each state, will be in the December 1, 2008 printed Ballot Access News. Compared to the period January/February 2008, the national totals in the 30 states that have registration by party (counting D.C. as a state) show a relative increase for Democrats and minor parties, and a relative decline for Republicans and independents.
The new figures show: Democratic 43.61%; Republican 30.69%; independent and miscellaneous 24.02%; Constitution .43%, Green .25%, Libertarian .24%, Working Families .05%, other minor parties .71%.
The figures early in 2008 showed: Democratic 41.66%; Republican 31.89%; independent and miscellaneous 24.82%; Constitution .41%; Green .28%; Libertarian .24%; other minor parties (including Working Familes) .71%.
One might have expected Republican registration to rise, since many voters changed to Republican in order to vote in the contentious Republican presidential primaries.
All data is current, except that Louisiana’s is old. By the time the December 1 newsletter is ready for print, current Louisiana data should be in hand. For purposes of the calculation, the American Independent Party of California is assumed to still be the California unit of the Constitution Party. The court case earlier this year between two factions of that party did not resolve the issue, but the case continues.
Remember Gilchrist received the most votes on election day.
It will be interesting to see who the American Independent Party nominates for governor in 2010, whether it will be in the Keyes Faction or Baldwin faction.
Laughton did appear on the ballot, and got something like 3%. Baldwin, of course, was replaced infamously by Alan Keyes.
From Joincalifornia.com
The AIP received a major boost in 2005, when Jim Gilchrist (founder of the Minutemen) ran a strong campaign during the 2005 Special Election for CD-48). Gilchrist received 25.5% of the vote, a surprisingly high number considering that there was a crowded field. Although the AIP is easily California’s largest third-party (with just under 2% of the registered voters), it has a problem attracting voters on election day. Of the 47 statewide candidates in 2006, only nine (including all seven of the AIP’s statewide candidates) received a smaller share of the vote than the party’s share of the registered voters.
2008 Elections
During the early filing period for the 2008 State Primary, a number of AIP candidates filed to run for office. Due in large part to difficulties collecting nominating signatures, only Robert Lauten (running in the CD-47 race) was able to qualify for the June ballot. If no additional candidates qualify for the November ballot through write-in campaigns, only two AIP candidates (Lauten and Presidential nominee Chuck Baldwin) will appear on that ballot.
it just seems like a such a waste to have a lot of registered voters & only run in the “big contests”
According to wikipedia
The American Independent Party has nominated the following candidates for governor of California since becoming the California affiliate of the Constitution Party:
* 1994 Jerome McCready
* 1998 Nathan E. Johnson
* 2002 Reinhold Gulke
* 2003 Diane Beall Templin
* 2006 Edward C. Noonan
Does the AIP run people for state or local offices in California?