6.2: Parties on the California Ballot

The Choices among Parties

There are dozens of political parties in the United States. Given the freedom of association guaranteed by the First Amendment, anyone can start a party, and voters can write candidates' names on their ballots (Here is a list of many of these parties). However, to be listed on the ballot by the Secretary of State, California law requires that a political party qualify by voter registration or petition. The voter registration method requires .33% of the registered voters to complete registration affidavits and write in the new party's name (in 2021, 73,109 voters). These cards are distributed and collected by the new party and delivered to each county's election officials. This must be done 154 days before a primary election or 123 days before a presidential general election. Secondly, a new party may collect signatures by petition equal to 10% of the people who voted in the last gubernatorial election (in 2021, 1,271,255 voters). These petitions must be submitted to county officials 135 days before the primary or general election ("Political Party Qualification").

Once qualified, a party maintains its status on the ballot by retaining at least 0.067% of the total number of registered voters and having at least one of its candidates for statewide office receive 2% of the vote, or it can retain .33% of the total number of registered voters before the next election. Let's investigate the six political parties and the "no party preference" category on the California registration application.

As of February 2023, the Secretary of State's office estimated that there were approximately 26,718,486 eligible voters, of which about 83% are registered (see Table 6.2.1):

Table \(\PageIndex{1}\): Registration by Party Preference (2023)

Registered Voters	Democratic	Republican	No Party Preference	Minor Parties/Other/Unknown
21,980,768 (82.27% of eligible voters)	10,305,901 (46.89%)	5,236,952 (23.83%)	4,941,314 (22.48%)	1,495,601 (6.81%)

Of the minor parties, registration data showed very small percentages of Californians registering for minor parties (see Table 6.2.2): 

Table \(\PageIndex{2}\): Minor Party Registration (2023)

Minor Parties/Unknown/Other	American Independent	Green	Libertarian	Peace & Freedom	Unknown/ Other
1,495,601 (6.81%)	793,272 (3.61%)	97,253 (0.44%)	234,743 (1.07%)	125,196 (0.57%)	246,137 (1.12%)

The trend in statewide voting registration is straightforward: Democrats are gaining registered voters, Republicans are losing them, and the number who express no party preference is almost the same as the Republican Party (See Table 6.2.3). The American Independent Party is the most popular of the minor parties, probably because voters mistakenly think they are registering as independents.

Table \(\PageIndex{3}\): Trends in Voter Registration

Party	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020	2022
Democratic	47.2%	45.4%	43.0%	44.4%	43.7%	44.9%	46.1%	46.8%
Republican	36.4%	34.9%	34.7%	31.4%	29.4%	26.0%	24.2%	24.9%
No Party Preference	11.3%	14.4%	17.7%	19.9%	20.9%	24.3%	24.0%	22.8%