Oregon Libertarians are First Party to Nominate a Candidate for U.S. House in the Special Election, First District

Oregon holds a special election on January 31, 2012, to fill the vacant U.S. House seat, 1st district. The vacancy was caused when incumbent David Wu resigned earlier this year. On September 28, the Oregon Libertarian Party held a nominating convention and chose James Foster. See this story on the party’s web page. The deadline for Oregon’s qualified minor parties to nominate someone is December 1. Republicans and Democrats are choosing a nominee by primary. The all-mail primary ballots are being mailed on October 21, and all major party primary ballots are due by November 8.

Oregon’s other ballot-qualified minor parties are: Pacific Green, Constitution, Working Families, Progressive, and Independent. The Independent Party and the Working Families Party are likely to cross-nominate one of the major party nominees, so they will probably wait until after the major party primaries are held.

Socialist Party Chooses National Ticket

On October 16, the Socialist Party, meeting in national convention in Los Angeles, chose Stewart Alexander for President, and Alejandro Mendoza for Vice-President. See this story from Uncovered Politics for the details. This is the first time the Socialist Party has ever nominated a presidential candidate who is a member of a racial or ethnic minority.

Massachusetts 4-Way Debate in Special Legislative Election

On October 15, the final debate was held for the four candidates in the special legislative election in the Third Berkshire District, Massachusetts State House. The four candidates are the Green Party’s Mark Miller, Democrat Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Republican Mark Jester, and independent Pam Malumphy. The election is Tuesday, October 18. This is the district in which Miller, the Green Party nominee, polled 45% in a two-person race in November 2010.

See this story, which focuses on the spirited exchange between the independent candidate and the Democratic nominee.

Douglas Schoen Links Support for Herman Cain to Generalized Dissatisfaction with Two Major Parties

Douglas Schoen has this opinion piece, which argues that the surprising support in polls for Herman Cain for the Republican presidential nomination is really a manifestation of public anger with the two major parties. Cain, of course, has never been elected to public office (although he once ran in a Republican primary for U.S. Senate from Georgia). Schoen is a supporter of Americans Elect, and a professional pollster.

Also, see this Huffington Post description of Americans Elect, authored by Elliot Ackerman, CEO of Americans Elect. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for both links.

Ohio Faces Another Referendum on Election Law

On October 14, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously that opponents of the new U.S. House and legislative districts are entitled to submit the redistricting plans to a referendum. See this story. The Republican majority in the legislature had argued that the redistricting bill is not subject to the referendum process, because the bill contained an appropriation. However, the State Supreme Court rejected that as a gimmick. Here is the 6-page opinion, State ex rel Ohioans for Fair Districts v Husted, 2011-5333.

This means that Ohio can’t use the new district boundaries during the next few months, because laws subject to referendum can’t go into effect until the voters vote. Since the primary is in March 2012, that presents a large problem for election administration. Democrats and their allies in Ohio have shown that they do have the resources to complete successful referendum petitions.

Article Highlights Flaw in San Francisco Public Financing System

The Bay Citizen has this article about San Francisco’s public funding system for candidates for Mayor. Anyone who raises at least $25,000 privately is then entitled to receive matching funds for all further donations. Candidates can apply for public funding months before the August filing deadline to be on the ballot. San Francisco holds non-partisan elections for Mayor in November of the odd years immediately preceding presidential election years. This year’s election is November 8, 2011. San Francisco uses Instant Runoff Voting, so there is only one round.

Unfortunately, the system provides that anyone who receives public funds, and then who doesn’t file for office, must return the public funds. This year, sixteen candidates are on the ballot. Several of them have received considerable public funding, and they must remain in the race, or they will be required to return the public funding. So, no one is dropping out, even though several of the candidates who have received public funding are at or below 3%. The article focuses on Phil Ting, who is the Assessor-Recorder, and who is at zero in the polls, even though he has received $230,000 in public funding.

Opponents of Instant Runoff Voting plan to try to repeal that system in 2012. Critics of San Francisco’s Instant Runoff Voting say IRV is responsible for too many candidates on the ballot. But, as the Bay Citizen explains, the real cause of an abundance of candidates is the rule in reimbursement. Other public funding systems do not generally require that candidates who drop out must pay back all the public funding. Obviously, if a candidate has used the public funding for legitimate campaign expenses, the money has already been spent. Thanks to Sam Harley for the link.