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Rapid City, South Dakota Newspaper Carries Op-Ed, Urging Voters to Vote Against Restriction on Independent Candidate Petitions

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Richard WingerAugust 31, 2016

On November 8, South Dakota voters will vote on Referred Law 19. It says that members of qualified parties cannot sign petitions to get independent candidates on the ballot. It also makes it more difficult for new parties to get on the ballot, and more difficult for a member of any qualified party to get his or her name on a primary ballot.

The Rapid City Journal has this op-ed by John Tsitrian, urging voters to defeat Referred Law 19. The legislature passed it last year. It is on the ballot because opponents of the bill, especially Democratic Party activists, successfully completed a referendum petition to see if the voters wish to cancel the law.

U.S. District Court Refuses to Move New York General Election for U.S. House, 3rd District, from November to December

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Richard WingerAugust 31, 2016

On August 30, U.S. District Court Judge Frederick Scullin refused to move the general election for U.S. House, New York 3rd district, from November to December. The Republican primary for that district is October 6. One of the two Republicans running in that primary had asked the court to move the general election for that district only, to a later date, because he said it wasn’t fair to the winner of the Republican primary to have such a short time in which to campaign for the general election. Pidot v New York State Bd. of Elections, n.d., 1:16cv-859. But federal law, since 1872, has told states to hold their congressional elections in November of even-numbered years, in all districts.

The reason the Republican primary in that district is so late is that the same judge had ordered it to be on October 6. The original congressional primary in that district, in June, was tainted because the primary ballot had omitted one of the two Republican candidates, due to a mistaken belief that he didn’t have enough valid signatures. If New York used filing fees instead of petitions for primary ballot access, this incident would not have happened. A majority of states use filing fees and do not require any petitions for primary ballot access.

Matthew Hindman and Bernard Tamas, in Washington Post, Note Increase in Independent & Minor Party Candidates for Federal Office

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Richard WingerAugust 31, 2016

Two political scientists, Matthew Hindman and Bernard Tamas, have this analysis in Monkey Cage in the Washington Post. They show that there are more minor party and independent candidates for federal office now than there were fifty years ago. They are correct. However, they could have noted the drop-off in the number of such candidates on the November ballot starting in 2012, due to the top-two systems in California and Washington, and they did not. In 2014 over half of U.S. House races had no minor party or independent candidates on the November ballot. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Link to Florida Primary Results for Three Parties

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Richard WingerAugust 30, 2016

On August 30, Florida held primaries for the Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian Parties. Here is a link to the Secretary of State’s election returns. For U.S. Senate in the Libertarian primary, Paul Stanton defeated Augustus Invictus by 3:1.

In the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, Rocky De La Fuente got approximately 5.4% in a five-person race.

Interesting Article on What Happens if a Major Presidential Candidate Dies Late in a Presidential Election Year

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Richard WingerAugust 30, 2016

Steven Nelson has this interesting article in U.S. News & World Report on what would happen if a major contender in a presidential general election died in the last few months of a presidential election year.