Bills in Two States to Use Instant Runoff for All Partisan Elections

Posted on by January 29, 2017
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Bills have been introduced in Connecticut and Hawaii to use Instant Runoff Voting for all partisan elections. They are in Connecticut and Hawaii. A similar bill in Virginia has already been defeated.

The Connecticut bill is HB 6153, by Representative Josh Elliott, a Democrat. The Hawaii bill is SB 824, by Senator Russell Ruderman (D-Puna).

The Virginia bill had been HB 2315, by Delegate Nicholas Freitas (R-Culpeper). It was tabled by the House Committee on January 26. Thanks to Fairvote for this information.

Twenty-four Presidential Candidates Received At Least 1,000 Votes in November 2016

Posted on by January 29, 2017
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Twenty-four individuals who were actually running for president in November 2016 received at least 1,000 recorded votes. This does not include individuals who were not running for president in November, such as Bernie Sanders, but who nevertheless received hundreds of thousands of write-in votes, most of which were not counted or reported.

The final totals for these twenty-four appear to be:

Hillary Clinton 65,844,954, Democrat, Working Families, Women’s Equality
Donald Trump 62,979,879, Republican, Conservative, American Independent
Gary Johnson 4,488,919, Libertarian, Independence of New York
Jill Stein, 1,457,045, Green
Evan McMullin, 732,001, independent, Better for America, Independence of S.C. & Mn.
Darrell Castle, 203,024, Constitution
Gloria La Riva, 74,397, Socialism & Liberation, Peace & Freedom, Liberty Union
Rocky De La Fuente, 33,136, independent, Reform, American Delta
Richard Duncan, 24,308, independent
Dan Vacek, 13,537, Legal Marijuana Now
Alyson Kennedy, 12,467, Socialist Workers
Michael Smith, 9,352, independent
Chris Keniston, 7,254, Veterans
Michael Maturen, 6,765, American Solidarity
Lynn Kahn, 5,730, independent, New Independent Party of Iowa
Jim Hedges, 5,617, Prohibition
Thomas Hoefling, 4,856, America’s Party
Monica Moorehead, 4,319, Workers World
Laurence Kotlikoff, 3,604, independent
Peter Skewes, 3,250, American Party of South Carolina
Rocky Giordani, 2,752, Independent American Party of Utah
Emidio “Mimi” Soltysik, 2,706, Socialist, Natural Law of Michigan
Scott Copeland, 2,356, Constitution Party of Idaho
Kyle Kopitke, 1,096, Independent American of Colorado

I appreciate the help from Wauna Keegan with this, although the totals above are mine, not his. His totals omitted the write-ins from Minnesota.

Montana Green Party is Circulating Petition for Party Status; Hopes to Finish in Time for Likely Special U.S. House Election

Posted on by January 28, 2017
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The Montana Green Party is circulating the petition for party status, which requires 5,000 signatures. The party hopes to complete the drive in time to participate in any special U.S. House election that may be called if Congressman Ryan Zinke resigns to become Secretary of Interior. He won’t resign until he is confirmed, so the date of the election is unknown.

Jill Stein was on the November 2016 ballot in Montana as the Green Party nominee, but she didn’t receive enough votes to qualify the party. She received 7,970 votes, but the law required her to get 12,797 to turn the party into a qualified party.

South Dakota House Passes Bill to Outlaw Paying Circulators of a New Party Petition on a Per-Signature Basis

Posted on by January 28, 2017
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On January 24, the South Dakota House unanimously passed HB 1035, which makes it illegal to pay circulators on a per-signature basis, if they are circulating a petition to put a new or previously unqualified party on the ballot. The bill now goes to the Senate Committee.

South Dakota already has a similar law in place for candidate petitions and initiative petitions. Thanks to Rob Richie for news of this bill.

U.S. District Court Orders Wisconsin Legislative to Redraw Legislative District Boundaries

Posted on by January 28, 2017
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On January 27, a 3-judge U.S. District Court ordered the Wisconsin legislature to redraw the state’s legislative district boundaries by November 1, 2017. This was no surprise, because the same court on November 21, 2016 had struck down the boundaries as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The case is Whitford v Gill, w.d., 15-cv-421.

Wisconsin is the third state in which courts have recently ordered re-drawing of either congressional districts or legislative districts. The other two are Alabama and North Carolina. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily (at least) blocked the North Carolina redistricting.

Wisconsin will attempt to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Whitford order. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.