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.

There are 12 registered Jedi in Louisiana.

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 January 3, 2012:

Democratic 1407917
Republican 773183
None 625226
INDEPENDENT 43014
Libertarian 4813
Reform Party 1383
Green Party 1369
OTHER 1057
INDENPENDENT 451
CONSERVATIVE 423
LIBERAL 280
TEA PARTY 161
CHRISTIAN 133
CONSTITUTION 119
PRUD ACT RSLTS 111
AMERICAN 102
MODERATE 74
OPEN 69
SOCIALIST 63
INDEPENTANT 60
LILBERTARIAN 59
DANSEREAU 57
INEDEPENDENT 55
UNDECIDED 41
CONSTITUTIONAL 39
RADICAL 30
REPUBLIC 30
MAJOR 26
NON PARTISAN 26
INDEPEMDENT 23
COMMUNIST 22
UNAFFILIATED 22
CONFEDERATE 21
LIB 21
BANANA 20
TEA 19
UNDECLARED 19
PROGRESSIVE 17
NEUTRAL 16
WHIG 16
FACIST 15
ANARCHIST 13
CENTRIST 13
LIBERTAIN 13
INDEPENDENCE 12
JEDI 12
NON-PARTISAN 10
ChrstnSocialist 9
LIBRAL 9
3RD PARTY 8
PRESIDENTIAL 8
REFORMIST 8
SOUTHERN 8
U S TAXPAYERS 8
WARD 8
EARTH FIRST 7
FEDERALIST 7
NAT SOC 7
PRIMARY 7
SEGREGATION 7
INDEPENDENT LA 6
INDIVIDUAL 6
TAX PAYERS 6
BULL MOOSE 5
DEM SOCIALIST 5
DEM.REP 5
PATRIOT 5
POLITICAL 5
POPULIST 5
BAPTIST 4
BI PARTISAN 4
CONSERVATIST 4
DEMOC SOCIAL 4
NATURAL LAW 4
PEACE&FREEDOM 4
PRIVATE 4
REALIST 4
STATES RIGHTS 4
AEROSMITH 3
AMERICAN FIRST 3
AMERICAN INDEP 3
CATHOLIC REG 3
DEPENDENT 3
DEPENDS 3
LA TAXPAYERS 3
LIBERALIST 3
MODERN WHIG 3
NON PARTISIAN 3
PRO LIFE 3
SOCIALIST USA 3
WHITE 3
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
FREE 2
GREEN PEACE 2
HAZAL 2
KINGDOM 2
LABOR 2
LIBERAL REP 2
NATIONAL 2
NATIONAL SOCIA 2
NATIONALIST 2
NATURAL 2
NEW PARTY 2
NON-DENOMIN 2
NUNYA 2
PAR 2
PERSONAL 2
PIRATE 2
PROHIBITION 2
RASTAFARIAN 2
Republitarian 2
RIGHT TO LIFE 2
SPLIT 2
TAXPAYERS 2
THEOCRATIC 2
THIRD PARTY 2
WORKERS 2
AID 1
AM INDEPENDENT 1
AMER CONST 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
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
MOOR 1
MOTHER 1
MUG WUMP 1
MUSLIM 1
NDEPENDENT 1
NONPARTISAN 1
NUTRAL 1
PACIFIC ISLAN 1
PARTY OF ONE 1
PEOPLES CHOICE 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
WORKING CLASS 1
Y 1

In 2005 the Libertarian Party achieved recognized party status in Louisiana and became a pre-printed option on the voter registration form. Since that time Libertarian voter registration numbers have risen pretty steadily. However, the Libertarian total declined by 178 last month. Presumably, this is due to Libertarian supporters of Ron Paul switching their registration to Republican before the December 15, 2011, deadline so that they will be able to vote for Paul in the Republican caucuses this year.