Natural Law

Website: http://www.natural-law.org

Members of the Legislature: 0
Highest Office Won: None
Founded: 1992

The national Natural Law Party was founded in April 1992, and after a major registration drive, gained qualified status in California for the 1996 elections. In early 2005, some began to wonder whether the NLP was in danger of losing its qualified status in California. The NLP is currently California's smallest qualified party (out of 58 counties, there are only two counties in which the NLP isn't the smallest). In 2002, when the Reform Party lost its qualified status, it had 58,482 voters. At that time, the NLP had 44,561 registered voters (the NLP remained qualified because several statewide candidates received over 2% of the vote).

When the Secretary of State released the latest round of voter registration statistics in early 2006, it revealed that the NLP registration had dropped to 28,571 statewide. The party, run out of a Post Office Box in Felton, a sleepy town in the Santa Cruz mountains, had run only one candidate in 2004; Presidential candidate John Hagelin. Then, on April 5th, the national NLP announced that the national offices would be closed at the end of the month. The statement said, in part, that "The US Peace Government is now carrying forward the programs, policies, and ideals of the Natural Law Party."

The transition from NLP to USPG has also led to the end of the state party; no candidates appeared on the 2006 Gubernatorial Election ballot and the party lost its ballot qualification after the General Election.

In October 2006, the last time that the party appeared as a qualified party, there were 22,231 voters registered with the Natural Law Party in California.