Independent voters get caught up in unknown third party

BOSTON - A third party with no Web site, phone number, chairman or platform is thriving in Massachusetts.

Many of its own members say they haven’t heard of the Interdependent Third Party, which has nearly 24-hundred members, including 31 new members since 2006.

But election officials say the party is growing only because of a glitch at the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

People who register to vote there are supposed to check "unenrolled" if they want to remain independent.

But election officials say people get confused by the choices, and write-in "independent."

They say clerks processing the forms enter those voters in the party with the closest match: The Interdependent Third Party.

The party’s last known candidate was the now-deceased William P. Foley. He ran on a platform of lower water and sewer rates.