The Kansas Secretary of State’s web page now has the list of declared presidential write-in candidates. See it here. Thanks to Tony Roza for the link.
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The Oklahoma State Election Board has released new voter registration data. The percentages: Republican 45.61%; Democratic 39.71%; independent and miscellaneous 14.52%; Libertarian .17%.
At the January 15, 2016 tally, the percentages were: Republican 43.65%; Democratic 43.48%; independent and miscellaneous 12.88%. There was no Libertarian tally at that time. The state started tallying Libertarians for the first time this year in April, when there were 344 Libertarians. Now there are 3,599 Libertarians. The state is still tallying Americans Elect, and there are eleven voters registered that way. Those voters will soon be converted to independents, no matter what those voters want.
The legislature passed SB 1019 in 2016, authorizing the State Election Board to remove the names of all parties from the voter registration form. The applicant would write in the name of the desired party. However, the bill doesn’t require the Board to remove the names of parties, and the Board has chosen to keep the names of the qualified parties on the form.
On October 28, U.S. District Court Joan Gottschall issued her opinion in Segovia v Board of Election Commissioners for Chicago, n.d., 15c-10196. The plaintiffs are U.S. citizens who live in Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Even though they are citizens who formerly lived in Illinois, the state will not furnish them with overseas absentee ballots. But, due to an outdated Illinois law, former Illinois residents who are citizens and who move to American Samoa may receive Illinois overseas absentee ballots.
The 18-page decision says there is a rational reason for the Illinois policy.
Great Britain does not permit write-ins. This is mostly because the ballot access laws are so tolerant, anyone in Britain who wants to get on the ballot for House of Commons generally is able to do so. This BBC article, intended mostly for British readers, explains how write-ins work in the U.S., with special attention to write-ins for President.
On October 31, the Michigan voters fighting the ban on photography at a polling place ask for an en banc review in their lawsuit, Crookston v Johnson, 16-2490. A few hours later, the court asked the state to respond. The state’s response is due November 1 at 3 p.m. central time. The original 3-judge panel had kept the ban in place, by a 2-1 vote. Thanks to John Anthony LaPietra for this news.