ICLU files lawsuit to expand party affiliation on voter forms
Posted: Saturday, September 17, 2005
DES MOINES (AP) -- The Iowa Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Friday challenging the state's policy of limiting party affiliation on voter registration forms.
The state currently requires a party to receive at least 2 percent of the vote for governor or president before it can be listed as a party affiliation on voter registration forms.
Only Democrats and Republicans have met that threshold.
The lawsuit was filed in Des Moines on behalf of the Iowa Green Party and Iowa Libertarian Party. Two former candidates also are listed as plaintiffs.
The lawsuit names Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver and the Iowa Voter Registration Commission.
"We're taking a look at it," Deputy Secretary of State Charles Krogmeier said on Friday.
Voter registration forms are adopted by the commission, which includes Culver, the head of the Republican and Democratic parties in Iowa, and a county auditor, currently Adair County Auditor Janice Wallace.
In 1990, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a similar case that the minimum threshold did not interfere with a party's ability to organize.
At the time, the court cited difficulty in tracking voters' party affiliation, but today's computer technology makes it much easier, said Ben Stone, executive director of the ICLU.
"Arbitrary barriers to voter choice and political expression are contrary to democracy," Stone said.
He said it is important to level the playing field "where all citizens have an equal opportunity to register and proclaim their party preferences."
The Green Party's presidential ticket received just 1,141 votes out of more than 1.5 million cast in Iowa in the 2004 election. The Libertarian ticket earned 2,992 votes.
The state currently requires a party to receive at least 2 percent of the vote for governor or president before it can be listed as a party affiliation on voter registration forms.
Only Democrats and Republicans have met that threshold.
The lawsuit was filed in Des Moines on behalf of the Iowa Green Party and Iowa Libertarian Party. Two former candidates also are listed as plaintiffs.
The lawsuit names Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver and the Iowa Voter Registration Commission.
"We're taking a look at it," Deputy Secretary of State Charles Krogmeier said on Friday.
Voter registration forms are adopted by the commission, which includes Culver, the head of the Republican and Democratic parties in Iowa, and a county auditor, currently Adair County Auditor Janice Wallace.
In 1990, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a similar case that the minimum threshold did not interfere with a party's ability to organize.
At the time, the court cited difficulty in tracking voters' party affiliation, but today's computer technology makes it much easier, said Ben Stone, executive director of the ICLU.
"Arbitrary barriers to voter choice and political expression are contrary to democracy," Stone said.
He said it is important to level the playing field "where all citizens have an equal opportunity to register and proclaim their party preferences."
The Green Party's presidential ticket received just 1,141 votes out of more than 1.5 million cast in Iowa in the 2004 election. The Libertarian ticket earned 2,992 votes.
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