Arizona’s No Labels, a third party, is struggling with its regional rebrand.
The party changed its name to the Arizona Independent Party, which went into effect on Dec. 1, with the approval of Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.
But the move has received scrutiny from Arizona’s Citizens Clean Elections Commission, which questioned the legality of the change and alleged the name change would confuse voters.
The Arizona Independent Party is now a separate entity from No Labels, which attempted to run a unity ticket during the 2024 presidential election to attract centrist and moderate voters.
Earlier this week, the commission filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court, alleging that Fontes’ decision violates the 1998 Citizens Clean Elections Act, which tasked the commission with supporting candidates and educating voters. The suit targets Fontes over his decision.
Does the name Arizona Independent Party cause confusion?
Tom Collins, the commission’s executive director, told ABC15, “There’s no procedure for this party to change its name” this close to the upcoming election, the 2026 primary held at the tail end of summer.
He said that people will think choosing that party is “the same as being an independent.”
“That’s real confusion,” Collins added.
Turning Point USA COO Tyler Bowyer in a post on X also criticized the No Labels rebrand as “Independent,” which is a term that has been loosely used to identify as unassociated with a party.
“By doing this they will confuse voters who will think they’re registering dissociated with a party but really joining a failed one and preventing them from pulling a primary ballot for the two major parties,” he said.
If a candidate registers with the Arizona Independent Party, they will only receive that party’s ballot for the primary election, and would not longer vote in a Democratic or Republican primary, as ProPublica reporter Jen Fifield explained in a series of posts on X.
But the Arizona Independent Party argued that the name isn’t confusing and creates real opportunity for candidates who don’t want to run as a Democrat or Republican.
“Why would we be intentionally confusing? We’re opening up the door to independents and unaffiliated, and those two groups (Democrats and Republicans) have done everything they can to box them out,” said Paul Johnson, the rebranded party’s chair and a former Phoenix mayor, as per KJZZ‘s report. He further alleged that the commission is working on behalf of the two major parties and paying for the litigation with taxpayer money.
Independent candidates not affiliated with a registered party have to gather 42,000 signatures to get on the ballot in the general election. But an Arizona Independent Party candidate would need about 6,000 signatures or less to qualify, as Axios reported.
A common problem
Other states have encountered similar problems. A Los Angeles Times’ poll in 2016 showed that 73% of voters registered with parties with “independent” in their names thought they were unaffiliated.
Ahead of the 2016 election, the United Independent Party in Massachusetts created an issue. The state sent those voters registered with this party a clarification of their affiliation status. But unlike in California, this party was disbanded in 2017.
In July earlier this year, Louisiana also officially did away with its Independent Party. This affected more than 150,000 voters registered with this party since it came into existence.
