Republicans and Democrats are going to keep their preferred — and exclusive — spots on Arizona voter registration forms. Without comment, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to disturb lower court rulings which upheld a 2011 Arizona law that only the two parties with the highest number of adherents get to be listed on the forms. The justices rebuffed contentions of the Arizona Libertarian Party that the practice is both unfair and illegal. Monday’s ruling is a victory for Republicans who approved the law in what GOP lawmakers admitted was a bid to slow the tide of people not registering with their party. It also exhausts all avenues of appeal for the Libertarians. Until 2011, those registering to vote were given a blank line to insert their preferred party choice.
Former state Sen. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, who sponsored the legislation, said the result was that many people were leaving the space blank. The result was that they were registered as independent, unaffiliated with any party at all.
Antenori contended that some people probably wanted to list themselves with a party but just forgot.
With space on the registration form limited, Antenori said it was impossible to list all four parties recognized by the state at that time. So the decision was made to list just the two parties with the largest registration.
Full Article: AZ can leave small parties off voter forms.