In 2018, as in 2016, the Independent Party of Oregon, which has its own primary, is letting independent voters choose an Independent Party primary ballot. See this story.
The Democratic and Republican Parties of Oregon do not let independent voters vote in their primaries. The other ballot-qualified parties in Oregon nominate by convention.
This article in the New Mexico Political Journal gives the history behind New Mexico’s law regarding straight-ticket devices on general election ballots. The legislature in 2001 repealed the authorization for a straight-ticket device. But, even afterwards, New Mexico’s former Secretary of State kept the device. Finally, in 2011, a new Secretary of State said she would not keep it, unless the legislature reauthorized it. As the article explains, there were then many attempts by legislators to restore authorization for the device, but they never passed.
The Secretary of State elected in 2014 is now threatening to again restore the device, despite the lack of any authorization in the law. Thanks to Rick Lass for the link.
On March 17, some of the candidates for Governor of New York debated each other. One of them, former Erie County Executive Joel Giambra, said during the debate that he is changing his registration from Republican to Reform. Although it is common for New York’s “fusion parties” to nominate high-profile candidates once in a while, typically those candidates remain registered in one of the major parties. For instance, James Buckley, elected to the U.S. Senate on the Conservative line in 1970, nevertheless kept his registration in the Republican Party. Thanks to Frank Morano for this news.
Erie County contains Buffalo. The Reform Party expects to nominate Giambra for Governor at its September 2018 primary.
Lyle Denniston in this column asks what is taking so long for the U.S. Supreme Court to respond to the Pennsylvania Republican legislators’ request to countermand the new U.S. House districts, and use the old ones. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
The Secretary of State of Nevada has posted this list of candidates for the 2018 election. The list only includes offices for which candidates file with the Secretary of State. U.S. House districts and legislative districts entirely in one county file with the county elections office, so they are not on this list.
The petition deadline for independent candidates is not until June 3, but Nevada requires non-presidential independent candidates to file a declaration of candidacy by March.
