The November 4 election appears to have had one of the lowest turnouts in U.S. history. Here is a preliminary analysis covering each state, based on data collected by Professor Michael P. McDonald. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
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Reason has this interesting article about what the exit polls tell us about voters who voted for Libertarian Party nominees in the North Carolina and Virginia Senate races.
On October 24, the Virgin Islands Supreme Court removed State Senator Alicia “Chucky” Hansen from the ballot, because it thought she doesn’t meet the qualifications to be a Senator, even though she had just served two terms in the Senate. Instead of appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, or any federal court, Hansen ran as a write-in candidate. According to this story, those votes haven’t been tallied yet.
The story also reveals that the two independent candidates for Governor of the territory polled over 14%.
Saira Blair, a Republican nominee for West Virginia legislature, was elected on November 4. She is 18 years old and a college freshman. When she won the May 2014 primary, ousting an incumbent, she was only 17 years old. See this story.
Indiana requires minor party and independent candidates to submit a petition of 2% of the last Secretary of State’s vote. Indiana’s official election agency has this link to November 2014 election returns. Although the totals aren’t final, it appears that the 2016 and 2018 petition for statewide candidates will be approximately 26,500 signatures. That is the lowest total since the old petition requirement was in effect. The old requirement was one-half of 1% of the Secretary of State’s vote. The legislature quadrupled the percentage in 1980, effective 1983.
The 2012-2014 requirement was 34,195 signatures; 2008-2010 was 32,742; 2004-2006 was 29,553; 2000-2002 was 30,717; 1996-1998 was 29,822; 1992-1994 was 29,909; 1988-1990 was 31,077; 1984-1986 was 35,040. No statewide petition in Indiana has succeeded since 2000, when Pat Buchanan petitioned for president. Indiana is one of four states in which Ralph Nader never appeared on the ballot.