The election returns for the March 1, 2016 Massachusetts Green Party presidential primary have been posted on the Secretary of State’s web page. The results are: Jill Stein 768; Sedinam Moyowasifa-Curry 78; Darryl Cherney 54; Kent Mesplay 37; William Kreml 24; write-ins 436; uncommitted slate 199.

Four years ago in the Massachusetts Green Party primary, the results were: Jill Stein 1,018; Kent Mesplay 89; Harley Mikkelson 84; write-ins 95; uncommitted slate 232.

Probably the overwhelming bulk of 2016 write-ins are for Bernie Sanders, but Massachusetts election officials don’t tally write-ins in presidential primaries unless the total number of write-ins exceeds the number of votes cast for the highest vote-getting candidate who was on the ballot.

According to this article in the Tucson Daily Star, proponents of a top-two initiative in Arizona are giving up, because Texas billionaires John and Laura Arnold do not agree with the strategy for passing the measure, and the Arnolds were the main source of money to pay to get the proposal on the November 2016 ballot.

The Arizona proponents felt that they were far more likely to pass top-two if the campaign for top-two was paired with another initiative, requiring organizations that spend money in campaigns to provide greater disclosure. But, according to the story, the Arnolds aren’t interested in the disclosure initiative and will not fund it.

Here is a second story, which has some additional information.

Maryland Delgate Alonzo Washington (D-Hyattsville) has introduced HB 1559. It lowers the number of signatures for a statewide independent candidate from 1% of the number of registered voters (now approximately 37,000 signatures) to exactly 10,000 signatures.