From November '07 through November '08 the Independent Party grew by more than 33,000 new members compared to roughly 10,000 for the state's GOP.

An analysis of the Independent Party's growth since October 2007 shows that roughly 40 percent of the party's new members were previously non-affiliated voters or members of a major party who have re-registered as Independents.

"About 20 percent of the Independent Party's gain in membership came from people who were from one or the other major political parties. Our members are more likely to vote than any other minor political party and turn out about 10 percent higher than non-affiliated voters," said IPO Secretary, Sal Peralta.

The following chart shows the party affiliation of people who registered as Independent during the last 13 months:

+22,688 new registrants
+2,068 net re-registration growth vs Democrats
+3,938 net re-registration growth vs Republicans
+6,875 net re-registration growth vs Non-affiliated

Overall, the Independent Party remains small with 43,000 members as of December, 2008 (just 2 percent of all registered voters). Founded in January of 2007, the Independent Party is larger than all of the other minor political parties combined, and three times the size of the next largest political party.