Independent Parties Join Forces to End Two-Party Hold on Presidential Elections

image
Author: Sal Peralta
Published: 04 Jun, 2016
Updated: 17 Oct, 2022
2 min read

6/1/2016 - The United Independent Party of Massachusetts has reached an agreement in principle to join with the Independent Party of Oregon and the Independence Party of Minnesota as a co-founder of a coalition of moderate and centrist third parties. The parties will convene a national conference (or teleconference) in August to discuss the joint nomination of a candidate for president.

three_states

The focus on presidential politics represents a significant shift for all three parties, which have tended to focus on local and state-level elections.

"People are tired of being snookered by the two party system and shocked by the depths to which political conversation has sunk," said UIP founder and chairman Evan Falchuk. "Now more than ever, we need a strong national movement for a sensible alternative to the endless nonsense. We are proud to join our friends in Oregon and Minnesota in this common cause and look forward to giving voters across the country real choices and serious alternatives."

"We are delighted to add the United Independent Party of Massachusetts to the coalition," noted Phil Fuehrer, State Chair of the Minnesota Independence Party. "Over the summer, we will continue to add member states and provide voters a competitive option to the two party duopoly."

"We are working hard to build a national coalition of parties to support a national Independent reform movement as an alternative to the Democrats and Republicans. The addition of the Massachusetts United Independent Party to the coalition is a significant step in the evolution of independent transpartisan politics that is starting to shake up our political system," said Rob Harris. "We are going to see more parties joining this movement as we move forward."

These three states together account for 28 electoral votes. The coalition now includes parties from the east coast, the west coast and the midwest. The coalition partners are all moderate political parties who share a focus on local good government and election and campaign finance reform.

Read more about these three parties:

Latest articles

Crowd in Time Square.
NYC Exit Survey: 96% of Voters Understood Their Ranked Choice Ballots
An exit poll conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of the nonprofit better elections group FairVote finds that ranked choice voting (RCV) continues to be supported by a vast majority of voters who find it simple, fair, and easy to use. The findings come in the wake of the city’s third use of RCV in its June 2025 primary elections....
01 Jul, 2025
-
6 min read
A man filling out his election ballot.
Oregon Activist Sues over Closed Primaries: 'I Shouldn't Have to Join a Party to Have a Voice'
A new lawsuit filed in Oregon challenges the constitutionality of the state’s closed primary system, which denies the state’s largest registered voting bloc – independent voters – access to taxpayer-funded primary elections. The suit alleges Oregon is denying the voters equal voting rights...
01 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read
Supreme Court building.
Supreme Court Sides with Federal Corrections Officers in Lawsuit Over Prison Incident
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 30 that federal prison officers and officials cannot be sued by an inmate who accused them of excessive force during a 2021 incident, delivering a victory for federal corrections personnel concerned about rising legal exposure for doing their jobs....
01 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read