This New York Daily News editorial says the New York voter registration form should be redesigned to lessen the chances of confusion between independent voters and members of the Independence Party. The editorial wants the form to first ask voters if they do or do not wish to enroll in a party, with “Yes” or “No” boxes. Then, underneath the “Yes” box, the editorial suggests a list of all the qualified parties with their own checkbox. The editorial writer is confident that such a change would reduce the number of voters who enroll in the Independence Party.

Ironically, though, the California voter registration form was changed some years ago to carry out the recommendation, but the change did not slow the steady rise of the number of Californians who register into the American Independent Party. The California form asks, “Do you want to disclose a political party preference?” and has checkboxes for “Yes” and “No.” Under the “yes” choice, the qualified parties are listed. Nevertheless, the American Independent Party grew from having 2.39% of the state’s registered voters in September 2010, to 2.70% in October 2014.

It seems that many voters like the idea of being members of a party of fellow independents. Thanks to Michael Drucker for the link.