Stevan Shepard has this interesting article at Politico, about the difficulty pollsters have with the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential race. Because entry to the party-sponsored debates depends on candidates polling at least 1%, pollsters feel a moral obligation to include every candidate who might plausibly get 1%. But, it isn’t easy for pollsters to ask respondents to choose from a list of twenty or more names.
The Clerk of the U.S. House has just electronically published Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2018. See it here. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
On March 11, Alaska Representative Ivy Spohnholz (D-Anchorage) introduced HB 90. It eases the number of registrations needed for a group to be a qualified political party, to exactly 5,000. Currently the registration test is 3% of the last vote cast, which is now 8,358. The only qualified parties in Alaska currently are Republican, Democratic, and Alaskan Independence. Although the Alaskan Independence Party has many registered members, it did not have any nominees in 2018.
If HB 90 is signed into law, the Libertarian Party would regain its qualified status, and it would be easier for the Green Party to also regain its status, and for the Constitution Party to become qualified for the first time in Alaska.
On March 11, the New Mexico Senate Rules Committee passed HB 407, the omnibus election law bill. Among other provisions, it lowers the number of signatures for independent candidates. The bill has already passed the House. Thanks to Rick Lass for this news.
On March 11, the California Secretary of State released the registration tally for February 20, 2019. This is the last tally in California until October 2019.
Percentages are: Democratic 43.11%; Republican 23.57%; American Independent 2.59%; Libertarian .77%; Green .44%; Peace & Freedom .384%; unknown .34%; unqualified parties .53%; independent 28.26%.
The last tally, for October 22, 2018, had these percentages: Democratic 43.45%; Republican 24.04%; American Independent 2.58%; Libertarian .76%; Green .45%; Peace & Freedom .380%; unknown .27%; unqualified parties .55%; independent 27.52%.
The Constitution Party, an unqualified party, declined from 290 registrants in October 2018, to 276 in February 2019.
