Louisiana Secretary of State Keeps Updated List of Presidential Candidates on Web Page; Deadline is August 19

Posted on by August 18, 2016
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Independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties, get on the Louisiana ballot by paying $500 by August 19. They must also submit a list of presidential elector candidates, including one living in each of the six U.S. House districts.

The Secretary of State enters each candidate onto its web page, shortly after that individual files. As of 5 p.m. Louisiana time, these seven had filed: Laurence Kotlikoff (It’s Our Children); Jerry White (Socialism Equality Anti-War); Princess Fambro (Loyal Trustworthy Compassion); Gloria LaRiva (Socialism & Liberation); Alysson Kennedy (Socialist Workers); and Tom Hoefling (Life, Family, Constitution).

See the list here. The deadline is 4:30 pm on Friday, August 19. Louisiana’s qualified parties are Democratic, Green, Libertarian, Reform, and Republican.

California Secretary of State Releases New Voter Registration Data

Posted on by August 18, 2016
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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 Op-Ed Says Commission on Presidential Debates Should Rely on Polls that Ask Voters Who They Prefer, Not Who They Will Vote For

Posted on by August 18, 2016
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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.

Illinois State Court Rejects Incumbent County Official’s Desire to Run as an Independent Candidate

Posted on by August 18, 2016
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On August 18, a trial state court in Illinois rejected the attempt of Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd to run for re-election as an independent. He had enough valid signatures, but he was still kept off the ballot because late last year, he filed a petition to run in the Democratic primary for the same office. He withdrew his primary petition, so was not on the March 2016 primary ballot. But the state court ruled that individuals who submit primary petitions cannot run as independents in the general, even if they didn’t actually run in the primary. See this story.