Voice of America Carries Story about Libertarian and Green Party Election Wins on November 5, 2019

Voice of America News has a story about Libertarian and Green Party candidates who were elected on November 5, 2019. The story would have been more complete if it had also mentioned Working Families Party nominees (who were not the nominees of any other party) who won partisan races on the same day in Philadelphia and Hartford.

Opponents of Campaign Finance Vouchers ask U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Their Case

In Seattle, every voter is entitled to receive four campaign finance vouchers, and to give a voucher to his or her favorite candidates. The recipient candidate can then collect $25 from the city, to use for a campaign for city elective office. The money comes from a property tax levy.

Opponents of that program challenged it in state court, but lost. Now they have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal.

Here is the cert petition in Elster v City of Seattle, 19-608.

Filing Closes for Arkansas Presidential Primaries

The Arkansas Republican presidential primary ballot with show President Donald Trump, Bill Weld, and Rocky De La Fuente.

The Arkansas Democratic presidential ballot will list 18 names: Michael Bennet, Joseph Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Cory Booker, Mosie Boyd, Steve Bullock, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Joe Sestak, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang.

No other party has a presidential primary. The Libertarian Party is on the ballot but nominates by convention.

News Story on End of Straight-Ticket Voting in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania just held its last election with a straight-ticket device. This Philadelphia Inquirer story looks at the election data from the November 5, 2019 election, and finds that the straight-ticket device was used by more Republicans than Democrats, which is surprising. However the data is somewhat ambiguous because a few counties didn’t provide data.