Many news sources are reporting that Williamson Evers is under consideration to be named Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education. Evers was very active in the Libertarian Party in the period 1974-1996. See his wikipedia page. He was a Libertarian nominee for U.S. House in 1980. Thanks to Eric Garris for this news.
Greg Kaza has calculated the number of votes cast for Libertarian Party nominees for U.S. House. With some ballots still uncounted, the national total is 1,671,091, the highest in the party’s history.
In both 2014 and 2016, the party had 122 nominees. The 2014 national total had been 965,494.
The party’s previous highest vote total for U.S. House had been the 2000 figure of 1,610,292. However in 2000, the party had more than twice as many nominees. In 2000 it had 255 nominees. The party has not had as many nominees in recent years as it had in the last decade. This is partly because in the past, the party’s national director, Ron Crickenberger, was extremely energetic and effective in recruiting congressional candidates, and he is no longer living. Another reason for the decline in the number of candidates is the existence of top-two systems in California and Washington, which have kept all Libertarian congressional nominees off the ballot since the system was implemented. Thanks to Greg Kaza for this information. The December 1,, 2016 BAN will have a chart showing the vote for all parties, for all states, for U.S. House.
So far, Darrell Castle, the Constitution Party nominee, has 178,517 votes, with more being tallied during the next few weeks, especially in Washington state. The Constitution Party presidential vote increased in every state (for the states in which the party was on in both elections). The Constitution Party 2012 presidential vote had been 122,389.
Castle was on the ballot in fewer states than the 2012 nominee. The 2012 nominee, Virgil Goode, had been on the ballot in states containing 50% of the voters who voted, but Castle was only on in states containing approximately 39%.
The order of the five leading political parties, for president, for the popular vote, is the same in 2016 as it had been in 2012: Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, and Constitution. Of course there were no higher-ranking independent presidential candidates in 2012, but in 2016 Evan McMullin, an independent, placed fifth, bumping the Constitution showing down to sixth.
Castle polled over 1% of the vote in Alaska, South Dakota, and Hawaii. The December 1 2016 BAN will have the vote for president by state, for all candidates who were on in at least two states, even though the results at that time still won’t be complete.
Although some national media figures have been saying they believe minor party candidates hurt Hillary Clinton, this article says many Colorado observers of politics believe that Colorado went for Clinton only because of the Gary Johnson campaign.
This article from the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat says Sonoma County, California, won’t have its votes counted completely until early December. The article explains why it takes so long. Thanks to Markham Robinson for the link.
