Alaska state law says that the Public Offices Commission, which regulates campaign finance, is to have five members. Four of them are chosen by the two parties that place first and second in the gubernatorial vote. Because Democrats didn’t have any gubernatorial nominee last month, the four commissioners appointed by the two “largest” parties will be chosen by the Republican Party and the Libertarian Party. See this story. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the link.
On December 3, the Maine state legislature appointed a new State Treasurer. The legislature chose Terry Hayes, who is a registered independent. See this story. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the link.
Virginia held two elections for U.S. House, 7th district, on November 4, 2014. One was for the regular two-year term and the other was for the short term running from November 2014 to early January 2015. The need for the short term special election was because the seat was vacant, because Congressman Eric Cantor had resigned earlier this year, before his term was up.
The Democratic and Republican nominees for both November 2014 elections were the same two individuals. But the regular election had a Libertarian on the ballot, whereas the special election only had the two major party nominees.
The vote in the regular election was: Republican Dave Brat, 148,026; Democrat John K. Trammell, 89,914; Libertarian James A. Carr, 5,086; miscellaneous write-ins 325.
The vote in the special election was: Brat 148,841; Trammell 91,236; miscellaneous write-ins 1,236.
Because the two major party nominees were the same individuals in both races, this juxtaposition of two elections gives evidence of how most voters who vote Libertarian (at least in this part of Virginia) would vote, if no Libertarian were on the ballot. It appears that probably 26% of Carr’s voters voted Democratic in the special election which didn’t list Carr; 16% voted Republican; and the other 58% of Carr’s voters either cast a write-in vote, or chose not to vote in the special election. Here is a link to the Virginia State Board of Elections’ web page showing election returns.
At the November 4, 2014 election, Constitution Party congressional nominee Janine Hansen outpolled her Democratic opponent in Elko and Eureka Counties. In the second district as a whole, Hansen polled 6.33% and the Democrat, Kristen Spees, polled 27.93%.
In Elko County, Hansen received 1,504 votes and Spees received 1,326. In Eureka County, Hansen received 106 and Spees received 56. Here is a link to the Nevada Secretary of State’s election returns for U.S. House. The Nevada Secretary of State, unlike the election officials of all other states, has designed an election returns web page that features pictures of the Democratic and Republican nominees, and their vote totals, while ignoring all other candidates, unless the viewer clicks an additional link. To see all the candidates who were on the ballot, one must press the “view details” button for any particular race.
The Democratic nominee for New Mexico Land Commissioner has asked the State Supreme Court to alter the procedures being used for a recount. See this story. Thanks to Rick Lass for the link.
