Subject: Re: [EL] Banning political parties
From: dasmith
Date: 4/9/2011, 8:10 PM
To: "election-law@mailman.lls.edu" <election-law@mailman.lls.edu>

No such ban in Florida. We proudly boast not only the Independence Party of Florida (IDP) but also the Independent Party of Florida  (INT).

Here's the full list, as of March 23, 2011:



And, I might add, there's likely some confusion. "No Party Affiliate" (NPA) is the designation when one wishes to register with no political party. Former Republican Governor Charlie Christ, you recall, changed his partisan affiliation to NPA in 2010 when his prospects looked grim in the race for US Senate.  But others, when signing voter registration cards, often write down "Independent," only to find themselves registered with an "Independent" party, not as an NPA.  There are currently 57,761 voters registered with the Independence Party of Florida and 262,116 voters registered with the Independent Party of Florida  (INT).  The Libertarian (LIB) party, in contrast, boasts 17,888 registered voters.


daniel a. smith, ph.d.
professor & uf research foundation professor (2010-2012)
director, political campaigning program
coordinator, political science internship program
department of political science
003 anderson hall              |  phone: 352-273-2346
po box 117325                  |  fax: 352-392-8127
university of florida          |  email: dasmith@ufl.edu
gainesville, fl 32611-7325     |  www.clas.ufl.edu/users/dasmith/
                               |  http://twitter.com/electionsmith
office hours, spring 2011: M 11-2pm

On 4/9/2011 9:22 PM, Craig Holman wrote:
Michael:

You pose an interesting but not unique issue:  suppose a group wants to portray itself indistinguishably with another -- a "Democrat party" vs. the "Democratic party."

These are the type of details of election administration to which we entrust administrative elections officials.

>From my participation with elections officials -- in work, testimony, educational events, COGEL conferences -- administrative elections officials understand and pursue their role as ensuring that the presentation of government information on elections (such as, ballot party IDs) are clear and distinguishable to voters.

Generally unnoticeable changes of symbols in a party or candidate's name, which would reasonably lead to mis-identification to voters, is an issue that local and state elections officials are very well qualified to address -- and have done so for years (subject, of course, to court review).

You need not enlist Congress (or state legislatures) to codify administrative judgments on this matter. There are people far more qualified and less partisan to make these judgments.






Craig Holman, Ph.D.
Government Affairs Lobbyist
Public Citizen
215 Pennsylvania Avenue NE
Washington, D.C. 20003
TEL: (202) 454-5182
CEL: (202) 905-7413
FAX: (202) 547-7392
Holman@aol.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael McDonald <mmcdon@gmu.edu>
To: election-law <election-law@mailman.lls.edu>
Sent: Sat, Apr 9, 2011 7:47 pm
Subject: Re: [EL] Banning political parties

The Maryland Electoral Board disbanded the similarly named Independent








Party. The rational, as I recall, was that there was no real organization to








the party and that the name was confusing people who thought they were








registering as an independent, unaffiliated with any party.

















I hate to give anyone any ideas, but image if someone started the Democrat








Party with the purpose to confuse it with the Democratic Party. Would that








be acceptable?

















============








Dr. Michael P. McDonald








Associate Professor, George Mason University 








Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

















                             Mailing address:








(o) 703-993-4191             George Mason University








(f) 703-993-1399             Dept. of Public and International Affairs








mmcdon@gmu.edu               4400 University Drive - 3F4








http://elections.gmu.edu     Fairfax, VA 22030-4444

















From: election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu








[mailto:election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu] On Behalf Of Salvador Peralta








Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2011 5:46 PM








To: election-law@mailman.lls.edu








Subject: [EL] Banning political parties

















Can anyone on the list point me to instances where a state or the federal








government has banned a political party?


























_______________________________________________








election-law mailing list








election-law@mailman.lls.edu








http://mailman.lls.edu/mailman/listinfo/election-law