11 parties

I got my absentee ballot for the US election on November 4th. Am I the only one who did know we have 11 political parties in the US? Democratic, Republican, Indepdence (those 3 are fair enough) and... Conservative, Working Families, Socialist Workers, Right to Life, Socialism & Liberation, Green, Libertarian, and Populist? And the mascots are all mixed up. Democrat is a star, Republican an eagle (what happened to the Donkey and Elephant?). I might just vote Populist because theirs is a buffalo.