United Citizens Party

The United Citizens Party (UCP) was first organized in 1969 in South Carolina in response to the state Democratic Party's opposition to nominating black candidates. The party's objective was to elect blacks to the legislature and local offices in counties with black majority populations. The party ran candidates in 1970 and 1972; as a result in 1970 the first three black candidates were elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives since Reconstruction.

In South Carolina, as in New York and unlike most other states, a single candidate may be nominated by two or more legally separate political parties. This practice is called electoral fusion. In the past, several South Carolina state legislators, who concurrently served as Democrats, were cross-endorsed by the United Citizens Party. Other political parties that have practiced fusion include the New York Conservative Party, the Working Families Party of New York and the New York Liberal Party. The American Labor Party was a historically important party in New York State which both practiced fusion and elected candidates independently.

Since the opening up of the state Democratic Party to black candidates, the party has mainly served as a means for various third party candidates to appear on the South Carolina Presidential ballot.

For a period of time in the 1990s the party used the name Patriot Party before returning to its original and current name [http://web.archive.org/web/20020820004727/http://ballot-access.org/2000/0901.html#17] .

In the 2000 election, the UCP nominated Ralph Nader for President in South Carolina. He received 20,279 votes or about 1.46% of the total 1,384,253.

In 2004, the UCP chose to nominate the Socialist Party candidate Walt Brown for President. Brown received 2,124 votes or about 0.13% of the total 1,617,730. Ralph Nader appeared on the South Carolina ballot as an independent, receiving 5520 votes or 0.34%. David Cobb appeared on the new South Carolina Green Party ballot line and received 1488 votes or 0.09% of the statewide total.

In 2006, the Party endorsed John "JC" Nellums for State House District 79 (Kershaw, Richland) [ [http://www.scvotes.org/candidacy/2006/08/15/2006_state_house_candidates search | SCVotes.org ] ] , and did not cross-endorse candidates of any other party.

On March 29, 2008, the party nominated Barack Obama via convention for the 2008 presidential election. The last time a presidential candidate was the nominee of two ballot qualified parties in South Carolina was 1996, when Ross Perot was the nominee of both the Reform Party (which yielded 27,464 votes) and the United Citizens Party then known as the [http://web.archive.org/web/20020820004727/http://ballot-access.org/2000/0901.html#17] Patriot Party (36,913 votes). [Winger, Richard (editor). [http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/04/11/united-citizens-party-nominates-barack-obama-for-president/ United Citizens Party Nominates Barack Obama for President] . "Ballot Access News". 2008-04-11]

Presidential nominee

* 1996 - Ross Perot (Patriot Party) - Party name at time see above
* 2000 - Ralph Nader
* 2004 - Walt Brown
* 2008 - Barack Obama

References

External links

* [http://wasearch.loc.gov/e22k/20021203085855/http://www.kevingrayforgovernor.com/index.html Kevin Gray for Governor] . Archived United Citizens Party 2002 Gubernatorial campaign site. Archive date December 2, 2002. Retrieved from [http://www.loc.gov/minerva/ Library of Congress Minerva archive] on June 21, 2006.
* [http://wasearch.loc.gov/e22k/20021106120036/http://www.mark-whittington.com/ Mark Whittington for Congress] . United Citizens Party 2002 candidate for House, South Carolina, 2nd District. Archive date November 6, 2002. Retrieved from [http://www.loc.gov/minerva/ Library of Congress Minerva archive] on June 21, 2006.

See also

* Peoples, Betsy. [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3812/is_200211/ai_n9114880 "Historically Black political party still alive"] . The New Crisis. Nov/Dec 2002.
*cite journal
last = Bursey
first = Brett
authorlink = Brett Bursey
title = Is South Carolina Ready For A Progressive Third Party?
journal = The Point: South Carolina's Independent Newsmonthly
volume = 10
number = 99
date = Summer 2000
publisher = South Carolina Progressive Network
url = http://www.scpronet.com/point/0006/p04.html
accessdate = 2006-06-29