Virginia State Board of Elections Certifies Election Returns for November 5, 2013 Election

Posted on by November 25, 2013
2

On November 25, the Virginia State Board of Elections certified the election returns from this month’s election. Here are the totals from the State Board of Elections’ webpage. The webpage continues to say that the results are unofficial, but they are the same totals as the official totals. The Attorney General race was won by 165 votes, by Democratic nominee Mark Herring. It is considered a certainty that the Republican nominee, Mark Obenshain, will ask for a recount. He has ten days to do that and the government will pay for the recount. See this story. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.

Maryland Republican Party Rejects Resolution to Let Independent Voters Vote in 2014 Republican Primary

Posted on by November 25, 2013
Reply

On November 23, the Maryland Republican Party rejected a resolution to allow independent voters to vote in the Republican 2014 primary. See this Washington Post story. The party will reconsider the idea in the future, and might open its 2016 primary.

The Maryland Republican Party already let independent voters vote in its 2000 primary, but afterwards, the party returned to a closed primary. The article does not mention the 2000 experiment. Thanks to Nancy Hanks for the link.

Socialist Alternative Hopes to Use its Success in November 2013 Elections to Expand

Posted on by November 24, 2013
5

Socialist Alternative is asking for funds, to increase the number of branches around the U.S., and also to pay off its campaign debt. The organization has much greater visibility than it did in the past, as a result of electing Kshama Sawant to the Seattle city council, and also coming close to electing Ty Moore to the Minneapolis city council. See the party’s fund appeal here, at www.socialistalternative.org. The party also had a candidate in 2013 for City Council in Boston, Seamus Whelan. However he did not do as well as the party’s other two candidates. He polled 3,118 votes for city-council-at-large, placing 15th among 19 candidates, with four to be elected.

The Socialist Party, the Freedom Socialist Party, and Socialist Action, have all issued statements congratulating the Socialist Alternative Party for its success. However, The Militant, weekly newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party, has not mentioned Socialist Alternative.

Honduras Presidential Election Has Eight Candidates on Ballot

Posted on by November 24, 2013
Reply

Honduras chooses a president on Sunday, November 24. Here is a news story about the election, which reveals that eight candidates are on the ballot. UPDATE: see this wikipedia article about the election, which has preliminary results. There are four parties that polled 20% or more of the vote, and four others that polled very tiny numbers.

Utah Democrats Plan to Sue to Force a Special Election for Attorney General

Posted on by November 23, 2013
Reply

Utah elects all its state statewide executive positions in presidential election years. In 2012, John Swallow, the Republican nominee, won the Attorney General’s race. However, he has since resigned, over charges that he did not disclose his campaign contributors. The Governor expects to appoint a new Attorney General who would serve until the 2016 election. But the Democratic Party says it will go to court to demand a special election in 2014. See this story.

If the Democratic Party prevails, Attorney General would be the only statewide race on the 2014 ballot. There is no U.S. Senate election in Utah in 2014.