The Conservative Party of Louisiana is gradually making its way toward the 1000 registrant threshold required for recognized party status.
According to the Louisiana Secretary of State's Office, these are the numbers of registrants for all the parties on the Louisiana voter registration rolls as of May 1, 2012:
| Democratic | 1401155 |
| Republican | 784215 |
| None | 631075 |
| INDEPENDENT | 43611 |
| Libertarian | 5210 |
| Green Party | 1439 |
| Reform Party | 1393 |
| OTHER | 1099 |
| CONSERVATIVE | 444 |
| INDENPENDENT | 441 |
| LIBERAL | 274 |
| CHRISTIAN | 174 |
| TEA PARTY | 153 |
| CONSTITUTION | 109 |
| PRUD ACT RSLTS | 105 |
| AMERICAN | 98 |
| MODERATE | 74 |
| OPEN | 71 |
| SOCIALIST | 64 |
| INDEPENTANT | 59 |
| LILBERTARIAN | 59 |
| INEDEPENDENT | 54 |
| DANSEREAU | 52 |
| UNDECIDED | 44 |
| CONSTITUTIONAL | 37 |
| RADICAL | 30 |
| MAJOR | 28 |
| REPUBLIC | 27 |
| NON PARTISAN | 26 |
| INDEPEMDENT | 23 |
| BANANA | 21 |
| COMMUNIST | 21 |
| CONFEDERATE | 21 |
| UNAFFILIATED | 21 |
| LIB | 19 |
| UNDECLARED | 19 |
| NEUTRAL | 18 |
| PROGRESSIVE | 17 |
| TEA | 16 |
| WHIG | 16 |
| FACIST | 15 |
| JEDI | 15 |
| ANARCHIST | 14 |
| LIBERTAIN | 13 |
| INDEPENDENCE | 12 |
| CENTRIST | 11 |
| NON-PARTISAN | 10 |
| 3RD PARTY | 9 |
| ChrstnSocialist | 9 |
| REFORMIST | 9 |
| AMERICAN ELECT | 8 |
| LIBRAL | 8 |
| PRESIDENTIAL | 8 |
| SOUTHERN | 8 |
| U S TAXPAYERS | 8 |
| EARTH FIRST | 7 |
| FEDERALIST | 7 |
| MODERN WHIG | 7 |
| NAT SOC | 7 |
| SEGREGATION | 7 |
| WARD | 7 |
| DEM SOCIALIST | 6 |
| INDEPENDENT LA | 6 |
| INDIVIDUAL | 6 |
| PRIMARY | 6 |
| TAX PAYERS | 6 |
| BULL MOOSE | 5 |
| DEM.REP | 5 |
| PATRIOT | 5 |
| POPULIST | 5 |
| REALIST | 5 |
| BAPTIST | 4 |
| BI PARTISAN | 4 |
| DEMOC SOCIAL | 4 |
| DEPENDS | 4 |
| NATURAL LAW | 4 |
| PEACE&FREEDOM | 4 |
| PRIVATE | 4 |
| SOCIALIST USA | 4 |
| STATES RIGHTS | 4 |
| WHITE | 4 |
| AEROSMITH | 3 |
| AMERICAN FIRST | 3 |
| CATHOLIC REG | 3 |
| CONSERVATIST | 3 |
| DEPENDENT | 3 |
| FREE | 3 |
| LA TAXPAYERS | 3 |
| LIBERALIST | 3 |
| NAP | 3 |
| NATIONALIST | 3 |
| NON PARTISIAN | 3 |
| POLITICAL | 3 |
| PRO LIFE | 3 |
| Republitarian | 3 |
| AMERICAN INDEP | 2 |
| ANARCHY | 2 |
| BEST | 2 |
| BI-PARTISAN | 2 |
| BIPARTISAN | 2 |
| BLACK | 2 |
| CAJUN | 2 |
| CHRISTIAN PROGR | 2 |
| CIVIL LIBERTAR | 2 |
| COMMITTEE | 2 |
| COMMON SENSE | 2 |
| COMMUNITARIAN | 2 |
| CONFIDENTIAL | 2 |
| CONS | 2 |
| ENVIORMENTAL | 2 |
| GREEN PEACE | 2 |
| HAZAL | 2 |
| KINGDOM | 2 |
| LABOR | 2 |
| LIBERAL REP | 2 |
| MOOR | 2 |
| NATIONAL | 2 |
| NATIONAL SOCIA | 2 |
| NATURAL | 2 |
| NEW PARTY | 2 |
| NON-DENOMIN | 2 |
| NUNYA | 2 |
| PAR | 2 |
| PERSONAL | 2 |
| PROHIBITION | 2 |
| RASTAFARIAN | 2 |
| RIGHT TO LIFE | 2 |
| SPLIT | 2 |
| TAXPAYERS | 2 |
| THEOCRATIC | 2 |
| THIRD PARTY | 2 |
| WORKERS | 2 |
| AID | 1 |
| AM INDEPENDENT | 1 |
| AMER MOHICAN | 1 |
| AMERICA | 1 |
| ANARCH | 1 |
| ANTI-PARTY | 1 |
| BLACK PANTHER | 1 |
| BLACKPANTHER | 1 |
| CHOICE | 1 |
| CHRIST CO | 1 |
| CHRONIC HIWAII | 1 |
| CITIZEN | 1 |
| CONSERVANCE | 1 |
| CONSERVATED | 1 |
| CONSTRUCTIONALI | 1 |
| CU TAI WOU | 1 |
| DISCORDIAN | 1 |
| DIXIECRAT | 1 |
| DRUID | 1 |
| FREE RADICAL | 1 |
| FREE THINKER | 1 |
| FREEDOM MOVEMT | 1 |
| FREEDOMIST | 1 |
| FREEMANS | 1 |
| GDI | 1 |
| GOD | 1 |
| GODS | 1 |
| GOVERNMENT | 1 |
| GRASS ROOTS | 1 |
| GREENPEACE | 1 |
| GREENTREE | 1 |
| GYPSY | 1 |
| HONEST | 1 |
| HUMAN | 1 |
| HUMANITARIAN | 1 |
| IMPERIALIST | 1 |
| IN BETWEEN | 1 |
| INDEPENDANCE | 1 |
| INDIVIDUALIST | 1 |
| JasonJohnLeMair | 1 |
| JEFFERSONIAN | 1 |
| JESUS | 1 |
| KINGDOM OF GOD | 1 |
| LEAGUE OF SOUT | 1 |
| LIB.REPUBLICAN | 1 |
| LIBERAL DEM | 1 |
| LIBERAL REPUB | 1 |
| LOYALIST | 1 |
| MARXIST | 1 |
| MEADOW | 1 |
| MILLENNIUM | 1 |
| MINE | 1 |
| MINIMALIST | 1 |
| MONARCHIST | 1 |
| MOTHER | 1 |
| MUG WUMP | 1 |
| MUSLIM | 1 |
| NDEPENDENT | 1 |
| NONPARTISAN | 1 |
| NUTRAL | 1 |
| PACIFIC ISLAN | 1 |
| PARTY OF ONE | 1 |
| PEACE & FREEDO | 1 |
| PEOPLES CHOICE | 1 |
| PIRATE | 1 |
| PROG DEM | 1 |
| PRS | 1 |
| RAINBOW | 1 |
| REALISTS | 1 |
| REP-AMERICAN | 1 |
| RIGHT | 1 |
| RIGHTWING WHIG | 1 |
| SOC-DEM | 1 |
| SOCIAL | 1 |
| SOUTHERN PARTY | 1 |
| SOUTHERN REF | 1 |
| SUB GENIUS | 1 |
| SURVIVALIST | 1 |
| THEOCRAT | 1 |
| UNION | 1 |
| UNITED NEUTRAL | 1 |
| UNITED REPUBLI | 1 |
| UNITED WE ST | 1 |
| UNITY | 1 |
| USA | 1 |
| VETERANS | 1 |
| WORKING CLASS | 1 |
| Y | 1 |
3 comments:
Rnadall, thanks for posting this every month. After Darden's "Mickey Mouse Party" comment while trying to relegate smaller parties to minor status, I always wondered just what the numbers really looked like. (and lo and be-hold, unless the Mickey Mouser's renamed themselves or had a change of heart, they don't exist!)
Obviously, many of these "parties" are errors. In some cases, I'd say the errors aren't that of the voter not knowing how to spell, but someone in the Registrars' offices not knowing how to spell. I find it hard to believe for example that over 400 people all misspelled the word "independent" as "inedependent." There are many other examples.
It seems also that many of these should properly be classified as "none." I believe "Independent" or any variation thereof, is not even legal in Louisiana. (I recall reading that in the election code at some point)
Certainly as well, people put their religion, their eye color, and possibly in one case, even their own name down. Was this really what they intended? Was this an error on their part or an error on the part of whomever keyed it into the computer? Was their corruption in the database somewhere?
Most of this could be easily cleaned up with a small canvass effort by Shedler. Heck, I would do it for him for free just to satisfy my curiosity.
Unfortunately, the SoS's software doesn't allow you to purchase voter lists showing all of these parties. Either you get Democrat, Republican, None, or Other.
If they would simply bother to list actual affiliation when you buy voter records, I'd bet the smaller parties like the LP, Constitution and others would gladly make the effort to recruit or just canvas the list.
As it is, the LP tried to do that with it's two obvious misspellings of "LILBERTARIAN" and "LIBERTAIN" but when the list arrived - ALL voters (including those properly spelled) were listed as "OTHER" thus there was no way to tell who was in which party.
One could ask for just each party name individually, but there is a $20 minimum fee for purchasing lists. Otherwise, they are 1¢ per name. I find it absurd that I would have to pay $40 to get less than 100 names, simply because the SoS software doesn't list the real party name and lumps the non-majors into "other."
Finally, I'll add the SoS puts out registration statistics every month on their website with some demographics. The situation is even worse there, as "None" is included in the "Other" category, and there are no breakdowns for the other recognized parties. (LP, GP, and Reform)
Anyhow, thanks again for shedding light on the party situation in Louisiana and sounding the alarm anytime the Legislature gets a bad idea in their head.
Sorry, seems I can't edit a comment here and I had a misspelling or two myself!
For starters, my apologies on your name at the opening.
Second, I meant to say I find it hard to believe there are over 400 people who spelled "independent" as "indenpendent" not "inedependent" though I believe that one IS later down the list. (about 55 or so)
Adrien:
Thanks for the comments.
I also noticed that there were no Mickey Mouse Party registrants. It is possible that they all abandoned ship, but I think it is more likely that Dardenne was just confused.
One oddity that I'm curious about is the 1000+ voters whose party is listed as "Other." Officially, those voters are members of the Other Party. My guess is that either those voters circled "Other" on the voter registration form and then failed to write anything in the adjacent blank or some Registrars don't understand the law and enter "Other" into the registration system for any voter who tries to register as a member of a non-recognized party.
You raised the question of whether those voters who are registered as "Independent" should be classified as "None." I'm sure that that's what all or practically all of those voters intended, but they are officially members of the Independent Party.
RS 18:441B(4) says "Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, no political party shall be recognized in this state which declares its name solely to be "Independent" or "the Independent Party"."
So, a party named "the Independent Party" can legally exist in Louisiana. It just can't get recognized party status.
Post a Comment