On August 18, a trial state court ruled that the independent candidate petition process cannot be used by registered members of political parties. See this story. The ruling disqualifies an independent candidate for Kanawha County Clerk, even though he had enough valid signatures, because he is a registered Democrat.

There is no West Virginia statute that says independent candidates cannot be registered party members. Erik Wells, the candidate, may ask for State Supreme Court review. Wells is the husband of West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant.

On August 18, the California Secretary of State released a new voter registration tally. See it here. The tally is as of July 7. The previous tally had been as of May 23, just prior to the June 7 primary.

The number of registered voters increased to 18,084,999. The deadline for a new party to qualify for the presidential election was July 7. The law requires registration of .33% of the state total, on the deadline day. Until this new Report of Registration was released, it had been impossible to know exactly what the requirement was: 59,681 registrations. The California legislature eased that requirement in 2014; the old requirement had been registration equal to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. The 59,681 requirement is thus the lowest registration requirement for a new party to qualify for the presidential election since 1964, when it was 59,297.

Notwithstanding that this was the lowest number of registrations needed since 1964, no new party qualified in California this year.

The percentages for the July 7 tally are: Democratic 45.10%; Republican 27.09%; American Independent 2.52%; Libertarian .645%; Green .435%; Peace & Freedom .39%; miscellaneous unqualified parties .54%; independent voters 23.29%.

The percentages for the May 23 tally had been: Democratic 44.82%; Republican 27.29%; American Independent 2.55%; Libertarian .643%; Green .435%; Peace & Freedom .40%; miscellaneous qualified parties .55%; independent voters 23.32%.

Between these two tallies, Constitution Party registration increased from 288 to 310. Reform Party registration declined from 11,946 to 11.835.

Sam Husseini here advocates that the Commission on Presidential Debates should rely on polls that ask voters who they favor for president, not who they would vote for if the election were being held that day. Many voters vote strategically, and do not vote for the candidate they like the best. The few public opinion polls that ask the respondent’s favorite candidate usually produce different results than polls that ask about voter intention.