U.S. Senator Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) recently wrote “If Donald Trump becomes the Republican nominee, my expectation is that I will look for some third candidate – a conservative option, a Constitutionalist.” Thanks to Independent Political Report for the link.
On February 26, Ireland held an election for the lower house of its national legislature, using proportional representation. See the wikipedia page about that election. Ten parties appear to have won at least one seat, along with some independent candidates.
Here is a link to the second half of the Libertarian presidential debate held in Biloxi, Mississippi, on the evening of February 27. It lasts 40 minutes. There is only about one minute of dead time at the beginning.
The link goes to the second half of the event, which had five participants: Marc Allen Feldman, Gary Johnson, John McAfee, Darryl Perry, and Austin Petersen. Earlier there had been a preliminary round with additional candidates. The audience for the first half determined that these five candidates should be in the final round. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the link. UPDATE: see this Examiner story about the debate.
According to this story on IVN (Independent Voters Network), California Assemblymember Kristin Olson (R-Modesto) and Senator Anthony Cannella (R-Ceres) introduced ACR 145 on February 26. It is not up yet on the California legislature’s web page. But the article says ACR 145 would ask the Secretary of State to tell county election officials to print up special presidential primary ballots for voters who do not desire to use a partisan presidential primary ballot.
California has six qualified parties, and they all have their own presidential primary. Under current law, at the polling place, independent voters are told that they may have a Democratic, Libertarian, or American Independent presidential primary if they wish. Apparently the special presidential primary ballot described in ACR 145 would list all 43 presidential candidates who are already on one of the six partisan primary ballots.
The IVN article says that the Resolution would point out to the Secretary of State that the State Constitution requires an “open” presidential primary, and therefore he doesn’t need any legislative authority to create such ballots. Without an opportunity yet to read the measure, it is not clear what the votes on this special primary ballot would be used for. Normal presidential primaries elect Delegates to national presidential conventions.
The IVN claim that the California Constitution mandates an “open” presidential primary is misleading. The California Constitutional provision on “open” presidential primaries was added by the voters in June 1972, when they approved Proposition 4. Proposition 4 on the ballot was described this way: “Open presidential primary. Requires Legislature to provide for open presidential primary in which candidates on ballot are those found by Secretary of State to be recognized candidates throughout nation or California for office of President, and such candidates whose names are placed on ballot by petition. Excludes any candidate who has filed affidavit that he is not a candidate.”
In other words, in 1972, “open presidential primary” meant one in which candidates did not need to petition. Before Proposition 4 passed, all presidential primary candidates needed a petition of one-half of 1% of their party’s last gubernatorial vote. In 1972 there were eight Democrats and two Republicans who submitted petitions to be on California presidential primary ballots. That amounted to 17,199 valid signatures for Republicans, and 14,695 for Democrats. Election officials found it taxing to check so many petitions for validity in a short amount of time, and pressed for Proposition 4 to eliminate these petitions.
The California Constitutional provision, Article II, sec. 5(c), says, “The Legislature shall provide for partisan elections for presidential candidates, and political party and party central committees, including an open presidential primary whereby the candidates on the ballot are those found by the Secretary of State to be recognized candidates for the office of President.”
Current registration data shows that 29.9% of voters in states that have partisan registration are Republicans. This is slightly higher than the October 2014 percentage, when Republicans had 29.8% This is the first time the Republican share nationwide has risen since 2004, when it was slightly better than it had been in 2002.
Democratic registration nationwide is at 40.6%, the lowest it has been in at least 35 years. The share of registered independents and minor parties is 29.5%, the highest it has ever been since I have been collecting data starting in 1980.
However, these figures are still not completely final, because Massachusetts has still not furnished any data newer than February 2015. New Massachusetts data is expected early next week. For those of you who subscribe to the print version of Ballot Access News, the March 1 issue won’t be mailed until the Massachusetts data is obtained, so your copy may not arrive until March 4 or so.
