The News Star in Louisiana recently did a report on the registrants by party in Louisiana. The results were fascinating, turning up a total of 217 parties, 86 of which have only 1 member. Twelve of those registrants are members of the Jedi Party. The state has a bunch of Bananas — well, 20 of [...]

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We previously reported on Buddy Roemer, a former governor of Louisiana, hinting that he might continue his run for President in 2012 as an Independent. Now former Governor Roemer has announced that he will seek the nomination of Americans Elect. Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer today became the first candidate to announce that he will [...]

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Buddy Roemer is a former Governor of Louisiana who has failed to make a splash in his run for the GOP nomination for President. Having failed to raise much money or get into most of the debates this year, Roemer is now considering continuing his run for President as an independent. Former Louisiana governor and [...]

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Source: Ballot Access News The Louisiana Secretary of State’s web page has election returns for the state election of October 22 here. Scott Lewis, the Libertarian candidate for Governor, polled 1.22% in a race with ten candidates. Although that is not especially noteworthy, it is far better than the only other instance when the Libertarian [...]

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Ballot Access News: Connecticut Senator Andrew Maynard (D-Stonington) has introduced Proposed Bill 778, which cuts the number of signatures for statewide and U.S. House candidates, in the general election, down to 1,000 signatures. Current law requires 7,500 signatures for statewide candidates, and signatures equal to 1% for U.S. House candidates, which is always close to [...]

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Ballot Access News: On January 14, Alaska Representative Max Gruenberg (D-Anchorage) introduced HB 77, to provide for a top-two election system for state office and congress. The bill says that anyone who doesn’t qualify for the general election ballot may file as a declared write-in candidate for the November election, even if that person ran [...]

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Email from Vicki Kirkland, LP of Florida Chair: The Libertarian Party of Florida voted on their Sunday night, November 14th State Executive Committee phone conference to endorse Dallas, Texas as the site for the 2012 Naional Convention. The vote was unanimous. See previous discussion here. The issue will be decided at this weekend’s LNC meeting.

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As reported by George Phillies in IPR comments, Libertarian Party co-founder David Nolan has proposed the following resolution to be considered at this weekend’s LNC meeting: “WHEREAS the Libertarian Party can grow only by attracting new members and supporters, and “WHEREAS libertarianism is a unique political philosophy, distinct from both contemporary liberalism and contemporary conservatism, [...]

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Ballot Access News: On October 27, Louisiana held a televised U.S. Senate debate in which six candidates participated. See this story. The debate sponsors invited each political party nominee, and also invited anyone who had either held elected office recently, or who had raised or spent $50,000. That enable two of the independent candidates to [...]

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Email from Randall Hayes to conatct.ipr@gmail.com: WRKF, the NPR affiliate in Baton Rouge, offered five minutes of unedited airtime to each of the twelve candidates in Louisiana’s U.S. Senate race. Seven of those candidates accepted the offer and their addresses were broadcast over the last several days. Each weekday morning, a different candidate’s address was [...]

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NOLA via TPID: The Libertarian Party will hold its first-ever Louisiana primary next month, when Anthony “Tony G” Gentile faces Randall Todd Hayes in the race for the U.S. Senate. It also will be the last one unless lawmakers change their minds on how federal elections should be held in the state. News 13 via [...]

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Ernest D. Wooton has been a Republican Representative in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, since 1999. Wooton recently changed his registration to Independent and filed for the U.S. Senate race in Louisiana, against GOP incumbent David Vitter. Rep. Wooton represents the parish which is geographically closest to the oil spill and is expected to make that his [...]

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In 2008 the Constitution Party nominated Darrell Castle of Tennessee to be their Vice Presidential nominee for 2008. Castle has penned an article in which he both criticizes and lauds Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal for his response to the BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana. Dear Gov. Jindal:Thank you for the remarkable degree [...]

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Tommie Vassel, a New Orleans resident and Orleans Parish Sewage and Water Board member, is considering an Independent run for Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District. He isn’t the only independent considering the race, though. Reverend Byron Clay, the immediate past President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, is being urged by many to enter the race [...]

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Rep. Dee Richard (No Party – Thibodaux) wants to freeze per diem payments to legislators for the next two years. That is to say, Rep. Richard does not want to eliminate the payments, but suspend the growth of those payments by putting a pay-ceiling on them. The House and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the measure [...]

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In an unsigned editorial in The Daily Advertiser, a Lafayette, Louisiana, based newspaper, yesterday comments onthe current movement back towards “open primaries” or “top two primaries” in Louisiana. The first and loudest objection will be the one we cited earlier: Open primaries let everyone vote for anyone they want. But it’s important to remember that [...]

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Eleven oil rig workers have died in the April 20 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, there are dire consequences for the ecosystem as crude oil gushes into the Gulf. The Green Party of Florida has called on President Obama and Florida Governor Crist to declare an immediate State of Emergency for the Gulf Coast in response to the oil rig disaster. The Green Party of Florida believes that all available federal and state resources must be mobilized to protect threatened communities and wildlife habitats in four states.

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Ballot Access News has the latest from Louisiana’s re-imposition of their jungle primary. On April 28, the Louisiana Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee passed HB 292. It moves congressional elections back to the pattern used between 1998 and 2006. There are no congressional elections until November. All voters use the same ballot, and that ballot [...]

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An independent legislator in Louisiana has risen to the second highest position of power in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Joel Robideaux was elected Speaker Pro Tempore at the State House over Democrat Noble Ellington in a 53-48 vote. Rep. Robideaux is one of three independents in the Louisiana House and four in the legislature. [...]

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From Democracy Now!, by way of On The Wilder Side DAVE ZIRIN: I was speaking to [former Green Party Congressional candidate] Malik Rahim, who I know you’ve had on your show before, a former Black Panther Party member, someone who has been a community activist in New Orleans for thirty years. And I asked him [...]

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