Though  the mainstream political press has naturally focused on the stinging  Democratic losses and sweeping Republican gains in last week's  elections, 2010 has proven to be an historic year for third party and  Independent politics in the United States.

One  of the primary motifs in media coverage of this year's elections has  been the public’s deep discontent with both the Democratic and  Republican parties.  In poll after poll, record numbers of  Americans opted to identify themselves as Independents rather than  Democrats or Republicans, and consistently stated their desire for third  party and Independent alternatives.  This dynamic undoubtedly affected the political calculus of  the many third party and Independent political hopefuls who threw their  hats into the ring in 2010.  According to Eric Ostermeier,  a research associate at the Humphrey Institute's Center for the Study  of Politics and Governance, there were  more third party and independent candidacies for the US House in the  2010 election cycle than in any midterm election since 1934.  In a study  of gubernatorial races reaching back to the turn of the twentieth  century, Ostermeier found that third party gubernatorial candidates in  2010 rivaled those of 1994 for the strongest showing over the past 75  years since the Great Depression.

Voters  in Rhode Island made history last week when they elected Lincoln Chafee  to be the state’s first Independent governor.  As the only Independent  governor in the nation, Chafee is now among the most high-profile  Independents in elected office, along with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg  and Senators Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.   Voters in the northeast actually came quite close to electing two  Independents for governor.  In Maine’s gubernatorial race, the late  surge in support for Independent candidate Eliot Cutler was not enough  to close the gap between him and the Republican front-runner, Paul  LePage, who beat Cutler by less than two percentage points.  

Though  no third party or Independent candidates were elected to the US House  last week, it is possible that Lisa Murkowski will be declared the  winner of Alaska’s election for US Senate.  After losing the Republican  primary election to challenger Joe Miller, the incumbent Murkowski waged  an aggressive campaign to retain her seat as an Independent write-in  candidate for the office.  The official count and verification of the  write-in ballots is set to begin today.  Just over 40% of ballots in the  race were cast for a write-in candidate, compared to 35.2% for the  Republican Miller and 23.4% for Democrat Scott McAdams.  If Murkoswki  proves victorious, there will be three Independents in the US Senate.  

Independent candidates for state legislature were far more successful than their federal counterparts.  According to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News, Independents were elected or re-elected to the  legislature in upwards of ten states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine,  North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Vermont.  An  Independent write-in candidate for state legislature in Colorado may  also have won her race, but the official results of the count have yet  to be declared.  Winger underscores the historic nature of these  results, writing:

“Whether this list ultimately contains 9 states or 10  states, it appears more states elected independents to state  legislatures this year than in any previous year in at least sixty  years.”  

In  California, no third party or Independent candidates were elected to  statewide office, US House, the State Senate or the State Assembly.  It  is worth noting, however, that Green Party candidates did win elections to a number of local and non-partisan offices in the  state, including that of mayor in both Marina City and Richmond. Nonetheless, according to a study from earlier this year by the National Institute on Money in State  Politics, 392 third-party candidates sought statewide office or  positions in the California state legislature between 2000 and 2009 –  and none won.  One potential explanation for this state of affairs is  that, as a percentage of registered voters, there are relatively few  Independents in the state. But their numbers are growing.  Indeed,  voters who do not identify with any political party are among the fastest-growing segments of California’s electorate.  In 1998, only 14% of Californians declined  to state a party affiliation.  This year, that number reached 20%.  In  Rhode Island, on the other hand, 48% of registered voters are  unaffiliated with any party.  The third party and Independent movements  have a long way to go in California, but there is positive movement  among the electorate.  

According  to a projection by the Associated Press, roughly 90 million Americans  voted across the country in last week’s general election.  That is a  relatively high turnout for a mid-term election year, but it still only  represents about 42% of all registered voters.  In other words, there  were more Americans who chose not to vote than there were who voted for  Democrats and Republicans combined!  Chronically low voter turnout in  the United States represents a veritable crisis of democracy and  indicates a crisis of confidence in the major parties.

How can  Americans be adequately represented if the majority simply do not vote?   But what if they do not vote because they are not adequately  represented by Democrats or Republicans?   Perhaps they're waiting for better options.