Claire Schneider's Journalism Coursework

With much talk about third parties during this year’s midterm, data shows a  lack of impact for the smaller parties in Nevada.

The Nevada Midterm Election for 2010 showed 1.25 percent of the votes for U.S. Senator were spilt between two third party candidates, and 2.86 percent of the votes were split between four third party Governor candidates.

As of Oct. 14, the Washoe County Voter Registrar shows the majority of registered voters are Republicans with 86,999 and 86,154 are Democrats.  The number of nonpartisan and miscellaneous voters equals 35,141.  The remaining seven third parties only make up 6.1 percent of the 220,925 people registered.

A look at the third party voter registration statistics in Nevada. 486,683 are registered under Democrat and 418,495 under Republican. Numbers come from the Nevada Secretary of State website.

“I think third parties match the independents of Nevada,” Chair of the UNR Department of Political Science, Eric Herzik said.  “The fact is that in Nevada, until really the last decade, our two major parties were not especially ideological or organized, so these third parties could kind of spin off.”

Economic and social stress within Nevada and the rest of the U.S. reflected people’s hesitation to vote for traditional Republican and Democratic candidates.

“Third parties are generally groups that are dissatisfied with what the two major parties are doing,” Herzik said.  “They range from very narrow minded parties, such as the Libertarians and, to a certain extent, the Independent Americans, to broader social movement type parties such as the Greens.”

Owing to their social beliefs, voters are drawn to some of these smaller parties; however, their views can just as easily turn people away.

“In Nevada, third parties have limited growth potential, particularly Libertarians and American Independents, because they are so ideologically rigid,” Herzik said.  “You are either with them all the way or you’re not, and rarely does politics break down in such a black and white fashion.”

Although, many third party candidates still fill race slots in order to further their ideological views.

“We run for office because we believe in the ideals that made our country the greatest in the world,” Libertarian candidate, Thomas Cornell said.  “The Republicans and Democrats today have abandoned those principles.”

Libertarians have the fourth highest number of registered voters in Nevada, according to the statistics on the Nevada Secretary of State’s website.

“Nevada has a libertarian streak, and you’ll find them in almost every state,” Herzik said.  “But in western states, you find them perhaps a little more prevalent. Yet, the number of candidates they run doesn’t seem to expand; it doesn’t seem like they are growing in anyway.”

A continued problem, which some third parties face, is they are often not allowed to take part in some debates owing to lower campaign donations and their lack of past participation.

“I knew alternative candidates were excluded from debates,” Green candidate David Curtis said.  “If I had a magic wand, the debates would have to be publicly sponsored and everyone on the ballot would be allowed.”

The governor debate sponsored by 8 News Now, the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Vegas PBS made their debate exclusively for Brian Sandoval and Rory Reid.  A mix of seven third party and independent candidates protested the event.

According the data from the Nevada Secretary of State website, there has been a growth in the number of candidates running in the Governor race, but a decrease in American Independent votes.

Greens and other third parties are often not mentioned by the candidate’s name in newspapers, only by party, Curtis said.

“It’s like we don’t exist,” Curtis said.  “There is an impossible set of requirements, and third parties tend to be lumped together.”

However, people still register under third parties.  The Independent Americans consider themselves to be the fastest growing party in the state, Herzik said.

“It’s a percentage game trick,” Herzik said.  “If you have a thousand members and gain 200 new ones, then that’s a big percentage jump.”

A growth in a third party can signal problems in one of the major parties and can funnel votes away from their candidates, Herzik said.

“Third parties play a couple roles; if a third party starts to grow, it is usually at the expense of one major party or the other, not both,” Herzik said.  “So if the Greens grow, then it usually means the Democrats are not paying attention to the concerns of this group of people.”

This year’s election showed the effects of candidates affiliating themselves with certain third parties and social movements.  Although Sharron Angle only lost 2.92 percent of the votes to third parties and independents, she lost a majority of the vote because she had a strong affiliation with the Tea Party, according to Herzik.

For more on Herzik’s thoughts about the Tea Party, click below:

Eric Herzik Talks Tea Party

Statistically, it is clear third parties may never make a strong impact in Nevada, but they still account for lost votes for the Democrats and Republicans.  Major parties either must rework their party platforms to draw independents back in or accept the loss.

UNR students discuss the Tea Party and Sharron Angle