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.