Despite Purge of Inactive Voters, Libertarians & Conservatives Gain Registrants

Last month the Louisiana Secretary of State's office removed 52,308 inactive voters from the state's voter registration rolls.

By comparing the voter registration totals from December 4, 2012, and those from January 2, 2013, we can get an idea of how the December purge affected each political party. Of course, the differences between the two monthly reports also reflect more routine changes (such as new registrations and changes of party affiliation) that happened between those two dates.

Here's how the state's five recognized parties fared:

Democratic Party registrants decreased by 24670, from 1429755 to 1405085.
Republican Party registrants decreased by 9481, from 818779 to 809298.
Libertarian Party registrants increased by 156, from 7088 to 7244.
Green Party registrants decreased by 16, from 1745 to 1729.
Reform Party registrants decreased by 24, from 1430 to 1406.

More than 200 political parties are represented on the Louisiana voter registration rolls, but so far as I know only four of those parties have actively sought recognized party status in Louisiana in recent years. Here's how those parties did between Dec. 4 and Jan. 2:

Americans Elect registrants decreased by 12, from 759 to 747.
Conservative Party registrants increased by 14, from 541 to 555.
Christian Party registrants decreased by 1, from 173 to 172.
Constitution Party registrants decreased by 3, from 119 to 116.

Here's how the following notable registrant groups changed:

"No Party" registrants (a category called "None" in every report I had gotten prior to this month) decreased by 15117, from 658999 to 643882.
"Independent" registrants decreased by 469, from 46941 to 46472.
"Other" registrants decreased by 21, from 1204 to 1183.

Louisiana Sec. of State's Statements on Presidential Ballot Access

On March 13, 2012, the Louisiana Sec. of State's office posted a note from its attorney on its Facebook page:



The note seems to have been removed since then.

In summary, the note said that the Louisiana Sec. of State does not have the authority or discretion to investigate, refuse to qualify a candidate, or refuse to place a candidate on a ballot on the grounds that that he allegedly does not possess the qualifications for the office he seeks.

I believe that is a correct reading of the law.

However, the Louisiana Sec. of State's office appeared to take the opposite position four years ago. Jay Dardenne was Sec. of State at that time, but much of the SOS staff was the same then as now. Dardenne's assistant, Tom Schedler, succeeded him. There have been no changes in the relevant laws in the last four years.

That year, the nominee of the Socialist Workers Party was Roger Calero. Mr. Calero is an immigrant from Nicaragua and is certainly not a natural born citizen of the United States. (Socialist parties in the United States have frequently nominated constitutionally ineligible candidates for President or Vice-President in protest of the discriminatory nature of the clauses that bar candidates based on age or national origin. Some states allow those constitutionally ineligible candidates to appear on the states' ballots; some do not. That is a matter of state law. Surrogate candidates are used in the states that refuse to place the official nominees' names on the ballot.)

According to an August 2008 Baton Rouge Advocate article about Calero's candidacy, La. Sec. of State's spokesman Jacques Berry said that in order for a Presidential candidate to appear on the ballot in Louisiana that candidate must be U.S. born. Calero did not appear on the Louisiana ballot that year. Instead, the SWP used a surrogate candidate in Louisiana. I blogged about that at the time because I thought Mr. Berry was wrong.

I emailed Berry at the time explaining why I thought he was mistaken about the law and asking him to provide a citation for his claim. I never got a response.

This year the Party for Socialism and Liberation nominated Peta Lindsay for President and Yari Osorio for Vice-President. Both candidates are constitutionally ineligible for those offices -- Ms. Lindsay because she is too young and Mr. Osorio because he is not a natural born U.S. citizen. Presumably, they will be allowed on the Louisiana ballot, given the SOS's improved understanding of the relevant law.