One of the Libertarian Party’s four state legislators, John Moore, was running for re-election this week. He was defeated. He received 6.8% of the vote; his Democratic opponent Jason Frierson was elected with 56.1%; and his Republican opponent, Norm Ross, received 37.1%.
Moore had never been elected as a Libertarian. He had won in 2014 as the Republican nominee, but then had changed parties.
On November 8, Colorado voters passed Initiative 108 by 52.4% – 47.6%. It requires the Democratic and Republican Parties to allow independent voters to vote in partisan primaries. Also, voters passed Initiative 107 by a large margin, 63.7% – 36.3%. It restores a presidential primary for Colorado. In recent years Colorado has used caucuses instead of presidential primaries.
Starting in 1980, Guam has an advisory vote for president in November. Here are the 2016 results: Hillary Clinton 22,972; Donald Trump 7,747; Emidio Soltysik, Socialist Party nominee, 1,352. This is the first time the Guam voted has voted against the person who became president. Scroll down to the bottom for the presidential results. Thanks to Matt Erard for the link.
The voters of Benton County, Oregon, have voted for a county initiative to use instant runoff voting for certain partisan county offices. The vote is 54.3% – 45.7%.
The only states with no ballot-qualified parties, other than the Republican and Democratic Parties, are these nine: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington. However, the Georgia Libertarian Party’s ballot-qualified status is only for statewide offices, not district and county offices.
After November 1996, there were eleven states with no ballot-qualified parties.
It is ironic that Minnesota is one of the nine states with no ballot-qualified third parties, because Minnesota has long been a bastion of strong third parties.
