Ordinarily Louisiana elects all its state officers, both executive and legislative, in the years before presidential elections. But Louisiana will hold a special election this year, for Treasurer, on October 7. According to this story, so far three Republicans, one Democrat, and one Libertarian have filed. Filing hasn’t closed yet.
Utah is one of the eleven states in which state income taxpayers may choose to send a small amount of money to the political party of their choice. The Utah contribution totals for tax returns that have arrived this year (through June 30) show that four of Utah’s qualified parties received more support from this source than they did last year. The only party that received less support this year is the Republican Party.
2017 amounts are: Republican $45,068; Democratic $42,102; Libertarian $5,416; Independent American $4,180; Constitution $2,190.
2016 amounts were: Republican $48,026; Democratic $38,066; Libertarian $4,350; Independent American $3,738; Constitution $2,144.
On July 12, an independent Governor and three independent state legislators held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. They represent the Centrist Project, which hopes to elect more independents in 2018. See this Roll Call story.
As of July 12, here are the number of registered voters in Oklahoma by party: Republican 937,698; Democratic 770,581; Libertarian 4,305; independent and other 288,807. The percentages are: Republican 46.85%; Democratic 38.50%; Libertarian .22%; independent and other 14.43%.
BAN last had an Oklahoma registration tally as of March 28, 2017. At that time the percentages were: Republican 45.80%; Democratic 39.27%; Libertarian .19%; independent and other 14.73%.
Howard Fischer, one of Arizona’s leading reporters for state government, has this sympathetic article about the July 10 decision of U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell to uphold the 2015 election law that keeps Libertarians off the ballot for congress and state office.
UPDATE: see this Associated Press story, which is also sympathetic. However, neither story mentions that Green Party candidates are not subject to the same requirements as the Libertarians.
