To be recognized as a political designation in Massachusetts, fifty registered voters must file a document with the state seeking this status. To be recognized as a political party, a designation must either have obtained at least 3% of the vote for any state-wide office at the preceding biennial state election, or have enrolled at least 1% of all registered voters.[1]
Election ballots include the candidates' names followed by either the candidates' party or their designation. In many cases, non-party designations still include the word "party" in their name. In 2023, however, only three such designations are recognized as parties: the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, and the Libertarian Party.
Voters may change their enrollment status with their election official, with a deadline ten days before an election.[2]
All registered voters may vote in general elections. Massachusetts voters enrolled in a particular party may vote only in that party's primary, and cannot cross-over to vote in another party's primary,[2] but "unenrolled" voters may cast a primary ballot for any one of the parties.[4][5] Political designations are treated as "unenrolled" voters for primary purposes, and so they too may choose to vote in one of the party primaries.[4]
Under Massachusetts law, a political designation is created when fifty registered Massachusetts voters "file a form with the Secretary of the Commonwealth requesting that they, or any other voters, may change their registration to such designation."[6] These non-party political designations may field candidates for statewide office, if they petition with a sufficient number of signatures (10,000).[7]
The various political designations have generally small membership, although they have attracted some media attention.[8][3]