The Mischiefs of Faction, a political science blog about political parties, has this piece by Professor Seth Masket about the possibility that the Republican Party might split and a new party might emerge. Masket does not think this is likely, at least in the short term, but it is interesting that he even wrote about the idea.

If the founders of Americans Elect had done what they could to keep their party on the ballot in the 29 states in which it qualified in 2012, that might have been the genesis for a new major party. It is still qualified in California and four other states, but if it doesn’t increase its registration in California by the beginning of 2014, it will lose its spot on the ballot in that state. The drive to put the party on the California ballot required 1,030,040 valid signatures, and probably cost $2,500,000.

The deadline for registering to vote in Virginia’s November 5, 2013 election is Monday, October 14. Meanwhile, the State Board of Elections has obtained a list of 77,000 Virginia voters that allegedly are also registered voters in some other state. The State Board has asked the various County and Independent City Boards to remove these voters from the rolls before the upcoming election.

On October 1, the Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit to stop the purge, until after the election. The lawsuit alleges that the list has many errors. The lawsuit also points out that federal law does not permit purges to occur closer than 90 days before an election, although that law only relates to federal elections, not elections for state office. Finally, the lawsuit says that a large proportion of the voters on the list registered in some other state as long ago as ten years, and that the same voters moved to Virginia after that time. The case is Democratic Party of Virginia v Virginia State Board of Elections, eastern district, 1:13cv-1218. Here is the Complaint.

Marist Polls has released a poll of the New York city Mayoral race: Bill deBlasio 67%, Joe Lhota 23%, Independence Party nominee Adolfo Carrion 2%, others 1%, undecided 7%.

When all fifteen candidates are listed, the only candidates who have as much as 1%, other than the three listed above, are Jack Hidary and Michael Greys. Hidary is an independent candidate whose label is Jobs and Education. Greys is the nominee of the Freedom Party, which was formed in 2011 by City Councilmember Charles Barron. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.