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%.
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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.
Donald Trump is about to be elected with a majority of the electoral vote, but Hillary Clinton will probably end up with 1,000,000 more popular votes. This will be the fifth time the popular vote winner has lost the election. All five times, the Democratic Party was the victim. The other elections were 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000.
As of 8:30 a.m., Fox News shows these national totals: Hillary Clinton 59,168,486; Donald Trump 59,032,954; Gary Johnson 4,006,298; Jill Stein 1,193,371; Evan McMullin 418,311. There are still tens of millions of uncounted votes. Thanks to M Carling for the link.
The Los Angeles Times of November 9 has this op-ed by Michael Feinstein, criticizing the top-two system for crimping voter choice.
In certain states, the Libertarian Party, or the Green Party, gained qualified status (relative to the day before the November 2016 election):
Connecticut: both parties gained qualified status for President, by polling over 1% for President. The Libertarian Party had never before done that, and the Green Party had not done it since 2000.
District of Columbia: the Libertarian Party gained qualified status with its vote for Delegate to the U.S. House. It lasts two years.
Iowa: the Libertarian Party became ballot-qualified for the first time, by polling over 2% for President. It lasts for two years.
Kentucky: the Libertarian Party became ballot-qualified for the first time, by polling over 2% for President. It lasts for four years.
Maryland: both parties met the 1% presidential vote test. This was a retention of the status quo for the Libertarian Party, and a gain for the Green Party.
Massachusetts: the Libertarian Party became ballot-qualified for the first time since the period 2008-2010. It did this by polling over 3% for President. It lasts for two years.
Missouri: the Green Party became ballot-qualified for the first time since 2000-2002. It lasts for four years.
New Hampshire: the L:bertarian Party became ballot-qualified for the first time since the period 1990-1996, by polling over 4% for Governor. It lasts two years.
New Mexico: the Libertarian Party became entitled to its own primary for the first time ever. This will make it far easier for the party to run candidates for congress, state legislature, and partisan county office. It lasts two years.
Oklahoma: the Libertarian Party, for the first time, met the vote test to remain on, 2.5% for President. It lasts two years.
Pennsylvania: both the Libertarian and Green Parties gained the slightly-useful category of “political party”, although that status does not put a party on the ballot. It restores the parties to the voter registration form and lets them nominate candidates in special elections with no petition. But they aren’t really on the ballot for all office unless they have registration of 15% of the state total.
The Green Party lost its ballot status in Massachusetts and Texas.