Moderate Party will appear on 2010 ballot

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s Moderate Party was officially recognized by the R.I. Board of Elections last week.
The decision means that the party will appear on the ballot in the November 2010 election, The Associated Press reported.
The party successfully challenged Rhode Island’s ballot-access laws this year and won the right to begin collecting signatures immediately. State law had previously required new parties to wait until an election year to start the signature-gathering process.
The Moderate Party, founded by businessman Ken Block, was required to collect more than 23,500 certified signatures. The party says it got nearly 34,000 signatures.
“Thank you to everyone who has helped to make the Moderate Party of Rhode Island a reality,” the party wrote in an introduction on its Web site. “Together, we have accomplished one of the most elusive of political goals: Doing that which the entrenched powers did not want us to do.” &#8226