Write-in Totals for Minor Party Candidates in California’s June 3, 2014 Primary

Posted on by July 5, 2014
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Here is the number of votes received by each minor party write-in candidate in the California June 3, 2014 primary (except that the results still aren’t available for the Assembly, 5th district):

Board of Equalization district 3: Libertarian Jose Castaneda 173; Peace & Freedom Eric Moren 127; Peace & Freedom Jan Tucker 34.

U.S. House district 11: American Independent Virginia Fuller 140.

U.S. House district 23: Libertarian Gail Lightfoot 31.

U.S. House district 43: American Independent Brandon Cook 12.

U.S. House district 44: Peace & Freedom Adam Shbeita 5.

Assembly 5: Libertarian Patrick D. Hogan 60.

Assembly 41: Libertarian Ted Brown 84.

Assembly 60: Libertarian John Farr 34.

Assembly 75: Libertarian Mike Paster 14.

Assembly 79: American Independent George R. Williams 115.

The only three who will appear on the November ballot are Shbeita, Hogan, and Williams, because in each case they placed second. In all three cases, only one name was on the primary ballot, and the minor party write-in candidate was the only declared write-in candidate. Therefore none of these three could have been kept off the November ballot, unless they had polled zero write-ins.

Dennis Kucinich Says he Favors Proportional Representation

Posted on by July 5, 2014
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Former Congressman Dennis Kucinich was recently on the Amy Goodman radio show. Goodman asked him, “Proportional representation is really the name of the game in Sweden, right? Anyone who gets – I think it’s 4% of the vote, can be represented in Parliament. Can you comment on this? It’s a growing movement in the United States.

Kucinich replied: Well, it should happen. So, it’s really a step towards democratization, so that points of view that are held in the general populace are not squelched because they don’t reach some numerical sigificance that we call a majority. You know, majority politics are all very interesting, but what’s happening in the United States, with increasingly blurring the differences between the two parties, there’s a hunger for alternatives, and there’s a hunger for those alternatives to find a means of inclusion into the process. So, certainly, that’s one way to do it. And we need to broaden our discussion in America. When you come here (to Sweden) and you see so many different political persuasions represented, and our politics back home are monochromatic – I mean, increasingly. It’s grey, and you can’t really tell the difference. Here, you can. But at the same time, there’s a common commitment to the nation. We need to awaken those sentiments in America. And one way to do it is proportional representation.”

Thanks to Steve Hill for this information.

Columbus Dispatch Article Describes Strong Campaign by Libertarian Legislative Nominee

Posted on by July 5, 2014
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The Columbus Dispatch has this article about Chad Monnin, the Libertarian nominee for Ohio State House, district 19, near Columbus. The article says Monnin has two campaign offices, has already spent $100,000, and plans to have spent as much as $250,000. The article also describes efforts by the Republican Party to challenge his primary petition (that didn’t work), and then efforts by Republicans to persuade him to withdraw.

No party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, has elected anyone to the Ohio legislature since 1914, when the Progressives elected one. Thanks to Kevin Knedler for the link.

Thomas Ravenel Says He Will Qualify as an Independent Candidate for U.S. Senate in South Carolina

Posted on by July 5, 2014
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Thomas Ravenel, a former State Treasurer of South Carolina, says he will submit over 10,000 valid signatures by the July 15 deadline. See this story. If he succeeds, he will be the first independent candidate for U.S. Senate in the history of government-printed ballots in South Carolina.

South Carolina has been one of four states in which there had never been an independent candidate for either Governor or U.S. Senator on a government-printed ballot, but it seems likely that independent candidates for both offices will qualify in that state this year. The other states that have never had an independent candidate for either office are Indiana, New Mexico, and North Carolina.