This link to the Los Angeles Times is a good reference for getting election returns for gubernatorial and congressional elections. The link seems to include returns for every candidate on the ballot. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link. Scroll down a little bit to the U.S. map, and choose “Governor “, “U.S. Senator” or “U.S. House”.
On November 2, New York city voters passed a city ballot measure that cuts the number of signatures for city office in half. The measure was combined with some other election reform ideas and passed easily.
In Oklahoma, with all precincts reporting, State Question 750 passed narrowly, 485,637 to 477,988. This measure ends the “see-saw” effect for initiatives. Currently, in Oklahoma, petition requirements for both new parties, and initiatives, are far more difficult to get on the ballot in midterm years than in presidential years. That is because current law, for both types of petition, says the number of signatures is a certain percentage of the last vote cast. Because the vote turnout in presidential years is about 50% higher than in midterm years, that accidentally makes the new party petition and the initiative petition far more severe in midterm years. SQ 750 changes the formula for initiatives. Instead of 8% of the last vote cast, an initiative for a state statute change would be 8% of the last gubernatorial vote.
Now that SQ 750 has passed, it will make it easier to persuade the 2011 session of the legislature to put the same idea into effect for new party petitions. Otherwise, Oklahoma would be in the odd position of requiring fewer signatures for an initiative, than for a new party, in midterm years.
On November 2, Faye Coffield filed her cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court. She is hoping the Court will respond. The petition emphasizes that Georgia ballot access requirements for minor party and independent candidates are so restrictive, they have existed in their present form since 1964 and have never been used. Georgia requires a petition of approximately 16,000 to 20,000 valid signatures for that office.
Furthermore, the petitions must be notarized. Petitions cannot circulate during odd years. Only fourteen inch long paper can be used for the petitions, which makes it difficult to distribute them cheaply on the internet, because most people don’t have printers that work well with paper longer than eleven inches. Georgia requires the second highest filing fee in the nation, in addition to the petition. The filing fee must be paid before the petition is due and before the candidate knows if his or her petition will succeed. Georgia has extraordinarily complicated boundaries for its U.S. House districts, which makes it difficult for petitions to have a high validity rate, because so many voters on the street don’t know which district they live in.
Not all of these points could be included in Coffield’s cert petition, because they were not all mentioned in the complaint. The Coalition for Free & Open Elections, in combination with the Center for a Competitive Democracy, hopes to file an amicus brief, pointing these things out. But COFOE badly needs donations to cover the costs of the amicus. Please consider donating to COFOE. To do that, send a check to COFOE, to PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147. People who contribute at least $25 will receive Ballot Access News for a year, in the postal mail.
On November 1, the U.S. District Court Judge in Arizona who had issued injunctive relief for one voter in Coconino County to wear clothing to the polls that mentions the Tea Party expanded his ruling to cover the entire state. See this story.
On November 1, Sarah Palin endorsed Tom Tancredo for Governor of Colorado. He is the Constitution Party nominee. See this story. Thanks to Independent Political Report for this news.
Laura Wells, Green Party gubernatorial nominee, will appear in court in San Rafael, California, on election day. She was arrested for trespassing last month when she tried to sit in the audience for one of the Jerry Brown-Meg Whitman major party gubernatorial debates. She and her attorney, Matt Gonzalez, are holding a press conference on the county courthouse steps at 12:30 p.m. See this story.