Evan Falchuk vs William Galvin.jpg

United Independent Party Chairman Evan Falchuk, left, isn't ruling out a run against Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin. (Republican file photos)

Evan Falchuk's United Independent Party has lost its official party status. But Falchuk has not lost his goal of making a difference in Massachusetts elections.

And he is not ruling out a potential challenge to Massachusetts' top electoral official.

Asked whether he would consider running against Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin in 2018, Falchuk said he has not made any decisions. "Anything's possible," Falchuk said. "We certainly need something that will revive our democratic process, and he's not helping."

Falchuk founded the United Independent Party as part of his 2014 gubernatorial run. It became an official party in Massachusetts that year, when Falchuk met the threshold of winning 3 percent of the vote in a statewide race. Falchuk said he wanted to provide an option outside of the traditional two-party system to energize voters who do not feel properly represented by Democrats or Republicans. His positions were generally socially liberal and fiscally moderate.

As he has tried to build his party, Falchuk has repeatedly butted heads with Galvin. During the Democratic National Convention last July, Galvin urged voters not to "waste their vote" on a third party candidate, after which Falchuk called on Galvin to resign. Galvin complained about the cost to his office of printing UIP ballots for the state primary when only a single candidate appeared on the ballot.

"He saw it as a nuisance as opposed to saying it's good people are trying to do something to get people engaged politically," Falchuk said.

In order to maintain party status through another election cycle, a party must enroll 1 percent of registered voters, or around 45,000 people. According to the latest voter registration statistics, the United Independent Party only has 30,368 enrolled voters, or 0.67 percent.

The UIP will now return to being a political designation, rather than an official party. It will join the Libertarian Party, which has gone back and forth over the years. The Libertarian Party will regain party status this year if Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson earns 3 percent of the Massachusetts vote. The Green-Rainbow Party, which is currently a party, also did not meet the threshold to remain a political party, although it can still do so if Green-Rainbow presidential nominee Jill Stein wins 3 percent.

The UIP will also join less well-known groups that are considered political designations, like the Pizza Party, the Pirate Party and the Prohibition Party.

"Life goes on for them. They can continue to operate," said Galvin spokesman Brian McNiff.

But Falchuk said the rules will make it more difficult for him. "One of the things about the way the system works is it's pretty stacked against political entrepreneurship," Falchuk said. "If you want to do something to compete with the old parties, it's set up in a way that makes it difficult."

A candidate from a political designation has a later deadline to file signatures in federal or statewide races than a party-affiliated candidate. Political designations do not have party primaries. Political designations also have different fundraising rules. For example, a party can collect $5,000 from an individual donor, while a political designation can only accept $500. Parties can contribute unlimited sums to their candidates.

Although Falchuk had hoped to use his party to encourage independent activists statewide to run for office, the UIP has only one candidate on the ballot this election: Daniel Fishman, who is running against incumbent Democratic State Rep. Jerald Parisella, of Beverly, in the Sixth Essex District.

Two other UIP candidates mounted unsuccessful write-in campaigns for the state House. John Fresolo of Worcester is on the ballot as a UIP candidate for state representative in the Sixteenth Worcester District, but he has said he only ran as an independent because it was an easier way to get his name on the ballot than challenging incumbent Democrat Daniel Donahue in a primary. Falchuk does not support Fresolo, who resigned as a state representative in 2013 amid an ethics probe involving inappropriate photos.

The UIP was likely hurt by the competitive Democratic and Republican presidential primaries in September. A voter who wanted to vote in the Democratic Party primary needed to be either a Democrat or unenrolled, and a voter in the Republican primary had to be Republican or unenrolled. Galvin said he believed some voters enrolled in the UIP by mistake, so he sent letters to voters in the UIP before the primary informing them that they had to unenroll if they wanted to vote for a Democratic or Republican candidate.

Falchuk said he sees part of his problem as a lack of civic engagement, which makes people unlikely to get involved in political campaigns. "As a society, we've got work to do to get people civically engaged," Falchuk said.

Falchuk said he will continue organizing and trying to figure out the best way to get good people to run for office.