Adam Weeks, the Legal Marijuana Now nominee for U.S. House, 2nd district, received 5.83% of the vote, even though he had died in early October. See the election returns here. The Democratic incumbent was re-elected with a plurality.
The Associated Press has these national vote totals for every presidential candidate who was on the ballot in at least one state. Of course there are millions of ballots left to count, so these numbers are incomplete. Thanks to Gloria La Riva for the link.
The AP lists Phil Collins as an independent, but he was the Prohibition Party nominee and had that label. C. L. Gammon also received votes in Arkansas. He was the original Prohibition Party nominee but he withdrew, but his name remained on the ballot. One might sensibly combine the Collins and Gammon total for the Prohibition presidential vote showing.
Although Maine used ranked choice voting for all federal elections this year, the first-choice votes settled everything for all the races. Someone got over 50% in each race. There were two separate races for President, because each U.S. House district in Maine chooses its own presidential elector. In each of those races, the winner got over 50% with first-choice votes. Joe Biden carried the First District and President Donald Trump carried the Second District.
Also, in the U.S. Senate race, and each of the two U.S. House races, someone got over 50% with just first-choice votes.
It is somewhat ironic that the Maine Republican Party resisted ranked choice voting so fiercely, given this outcome.
On October 28, Rocky De La Fuente asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear De La Fuente v Simon, 20-612. The Minnesota Supreme Court had upheld the Secretary of State’s decision to keep De La Fuente off the Republican presidential primary ballot earlier this year, and De La Fuente hopes to reverse that decision. The Minnesota Republican presidential primary ballot only listed President Donald Trump, because the Minnesota Republican Party requested that outcome. Here is the cert petition.
On November 9, Level the Playing Field asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Level the Playing Field v Federal Election Commission, the case over whether the FEC has failed to enforce federal campaign finance laws against the Commission on Presidential Debates. The case number will be assigned soon. Here is the cert Petition.
The questions presented are: (1) Whether the partisan political activities of a debate-staging organization’s decisionmakers bear upon whether the organization “endorses, supports. or opposes political candidates or political parties” in violation of 11 C.F.R. 110.13(a); (2) Whether criteria for determining which presidential candidates are invited to participate in general election debates are “objective” under 11 C.F.R. 110.13(c) if only major party candidates can satisfy the criteria.
