On September 19, the Field Poll, which is California’s leading polling company, released a presidential poll. It shows Hillary Clinton 50%, Donald Trump 33%, Jill Stein 6%, Gary Johnson 5%, undecided 6%. This article has an interesting breakdown of the results.
The September 20 print edition of the San Antonio Express-News has this editorial endorsement of Mark Miller, the Libertarian Party nominee for Railroad Commissioner. Railroad Commissioner is a statewide partisan elected office. As the editorial says, it has nothing to do with railroads; instead it regulates the oil and gas industry.
The Libertarian Party of Texas needs to poll 5% for at least one statewide race to remain ballot-qualified. This year, the Democrats are running a full slate for all statewide offices, for the first time since 2002. That makes it more difficult for the state’s two ballot-qualified minor parties to poll 5%. Normally it is easy for the Green Party and the Libertarian Party to get 5%; they merely file in the statewide races that lack a Democratic candidate.
This Politico story says that former President George H. W. Bush told a friend that he intends to vote for Hillary Clinton. And the friend then told the media.
On September 19, a Connecticut state trial court refused to order the Secretary of State to print any nominee for the Independent Party for U.S. Senate. There are two factions of that party, and each faction nominated someone different. The Secretary of State says she doesn’t know which faction to recognize, so she won’t print anyone on the ballot for any statewide office. The state court decision sustains the Secretary of State’s action. See this story.
The party will now lose its ballot qualification for U.S. Senate. Connecticut is the only state in which qualified status is separate for each office. The lawsuit will continue, and each faction hopes to eventually win a ruling over who the true state officers are.
Virginia Delegate Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke) has filed a 2017 bill to convert all partisan elections (except presidential elections) to a top-two system. It is HB 541 and is a proposed constitutional amendment. See this story. The story is incorrect when it says that Nebraska and Louisiana have top-two systems. Louisiana has abolished primaries (except presidential primaries) and only has a general election. In the few cases when no one gets a majority, there is a run-off. Louisiana does not vote for Congress until November. Nebraska has semi-closed primaries for all partisan office. Because Nebraska has non-partisan elections for the State Senate, proponents of top-two frequently claim Nebraska has a top-two primary, but that claim is incorrect.
Currently Virginia has open primaries. The voter registration form in Virginia does not ask the applicant to choose a party or independent status. So on primary day, any voter can choose any party’s primary ballot.
If the United States had a top-two system for president, the only candidates who would be allowed to run in the general election this year would be Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
