[EL] Minor Party Becomes a Major Party?

Fri Dec 5 15:02:03 PST 2014

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for your work on ballotpedia.  The reason for the question is that the independent party of Oregon, a ballot qualified minor party is getting ready to hit major party status next year by virtue of hitting a membership equal to 5% of Oregon voters.  I was wondering whether there are any other analogues around the country.

Sent from my iPhone.  Please excuse the iTypos.

> On Dec 5, 2014, at 1:43 PM, Geoff Pallay <geoff.pallay at lucyburns.org> wrote:
> 
> Sal,
> 
> As Jesse said, the regulations vary from state-to-state. Sometimes, it amounts to what % of the vote a party received in the general election. Other times, it has to do with signatures. Still in some states there are differences between party "designations" and official party recognition. Sometimes the only difference is whether you hold a party convention or a party primary. We have more detailed information on our Ballotpedia pages by state, such as at this link:
> http://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_access_requirements_for_political_candidates_in_New_York
> 
> For example, in New York, a party must receive 50,000 votes in the most recent gubernatorial election in order to maintain its officially recognized status.
> 
> Some states do not distinguish at all between major/minor parties. Others, like Minnesota, base it on whether the party fields a full slate of candidates AND receives a certain threshold of votes.  
> 
> To your original question, we at Ballotpedia are not aware of any political parties that have "major party" status along those lines.
> 
> Geoff
> 
> --
> Geoff Pallay
> Associate Chief Content Officer and Director of Strategic Projects
> Lucy Burns Institute
> 301 S Bedford St, Suite 6 
> Madison, WI 53703 
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>> On Fri, Dec 5, 2014 at 1:19 PM, Maceda, Cliff <cmaceda_CONTRACTOR at ap.org> wrote:
>> Regarding New York, the Working Families Party has had, and will retain for another four years, automatic ballot access.  The Governor’s newly formed Women’s Equality Party garnered enough votes (50k) in this year’s Gubernatorial election to get automatic access for the next four years.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Richman, Jesse T.
>> Sent: Friday, December 05, 2014 1:11 PM
>> To: 'Salvador Peralta'; Election Law
>> Subject: Re: [EL] Minor Party Becomes a Major Party?
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Salvador,
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> What it means for a party to be a ‘major’ party is state-specific.  Often the main recognition / distinction consists in whether a party’s candidates must collect signatures in order to get their name on the ballot.  In states with public financing, there are often also thresholds for qualification for public campaign financing.  New York, for instance, has a number of parties that qualify for automatic access.  I’d want to follow up on this further to use the data, but Wikipedia claims that there are five parties with automatic ballot access: the Conservative Party, the Democratic Party, the Green Party, the Independence Party  and the Republican Party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_New_York). 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> The Independence Party of Minnesota (also known at one time as the Reform Party of Minnesota) is an example of a party distinctly recognized by its state as a major party (http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=237) which reflects its history of strong showings in state elections, and the service of Jesse Ventura as Governor from 1999 – 2003.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Jesse Richman
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Salvador Peralta
>> Sent: Friday, December 05, 2014 12:38 PM
>> To: Election Law
>> Subject: [EL] Minor Party Becomes a Major Party?
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Good morning,
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> I see on Ballotpedia that there are a total of 34 distinct and officially recognized political parties in the United States.  
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Does anyone know whether any political party other than Democrats and Republicans have been recognized as a major political party by any state in states that make that distinction?
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> 
>> Sal Peralta
>> 
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