According to this story, North Carolina Representative Paul Tine will change his registration from “Democratic” to “independent” soon.
In November 2014, Tine, as a Democrat, won 53.6% of the vote against his Republican opponent. Thanks to Michael for the link.
State legislators in North Dakota and Maine have started the process of introducing ballot access improvement bills. In North Dakota, Rep. Corey Mock (D-Grand Forks) has asked the bill-drafting staff to prepare a bill that would eliminate the unique North Dakota requirement that a party must attract a certain number of voters into its primary, in order to nominate. North Dakota has open primaries. All parties must nominate by primary. Primary candidates for the legislature must receive, typically, 130 votes in their own party’s primary in order to be nominated. That may sound like a small number, but there are often only about 2,500 voters in a single legislative district who vote in primaries. It is unrealistic to expect many voters to choose the primary ballot of a minor party. The requirement has prevented any minor party candidates for the legislature from appearing on the November ballot ever since 1976.
In Maine, Rep. Ben Chipman (I-Portland) has submitted a proposal to the bill-drafting staff to ease the number of signatures needed for candidates to get on the primary ballot of a small ballot-qualified party. Current Maine law does not permit anyone but a party member to sign a petition to put a candidate on a partisan primary ballot. Furthermore, Maine law doesn’t take into account the fact that the number of registered voters in various parties differs widely. The law requires 2,000 signatures for statewide candidates and 1,000 for U.S. House. The existing law has prevented all ballot-qualified minor parties from having any congressional candidates whatsoever, for approximately 90 years. The Reform Party was qualified 1996 through 2000 and had no candidates for any federal or state office in its primary the entire period, except for one legislative candidate in 1998. The Green Party manages to place candidates on its primary ballot for the legislature, but has never had any members qualify for the primary ballot who were running for Congress, and only twice managed to place a gubernatorial candidate on its own primary ballot, in 2002 and 2006. The Chipman bill would set a ceiling on the number of signatures needed to get on the primary ballot, of 1% of that party’s registered members.
On January 6, the U.S. House elected a speaker. Members of the House were permitted to vote for anyone they wished. Fifteen individuals received at least one vote for Speaker. Here is a link to the vote.
Article One, Section Two, of the U.S. Constitution says that a new House shall elect a Speaker. The Constitution does not say the Speaker must be an elected member of the House, and members are permitted to vote for anyone, nominated or not. The Republican caucus had already nominated John Boehner for Speaker, and the Democratic caucus had already nominated Nancy Pelosi. But 28 members of the House voted for someone other than those two.
Three individuals who are not members of the House received a vote: Retired General Colin Powell received one vote from Jim Cooper (D-Tennessee). U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama received one vote from Gary Palmer (R-Alabama). U.S. Senator Rand Paul received one vote from Curt Clawson (R-Florida).
Congressman Dan Webster (R-Florida) received twelve votes, all from Republicans. Webster voted for himself.
Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) received three votes, all from Republicans. Gohmert voted for himself.
Congressman Ted Yoho (R-Florida) received two votes, both from Republicans. Yoho voted for himself.
Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) received two votes, both from Republicans. Jordan did not vote for himself.
Six other members of the House received one vote, and one member of Congress voted “present” (which is an abstention).
These votes did not affect the outcome. Boehner received 216 votes and Pelosi received 164.
Voters who wish to vote for someone who hadn’t been formally nominated (in other words, voters who want to cast a write-in vote) are not permitted to do that in the general election in California, Hawaii, Louisiana, Nevada, Oklahoma, or South Dakota. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
On January 6, Virginia held two special legislative elections. In the 63rd House district, the vote was: Democrat Joe Preston 78.7%; independent W. H. “Mouse” Jones 18.5%. Last time this seat was up, in November 2013, the Democratic nominee was unopposed.
In the 34th House district, the vote was: Democrat Kathleen Murphy 51.2%; Republican Craig Parisot 48.6%. Last time this seat was up, in November 2013, the vote had been: Republican Barbara Comstock 50.7%; Democrat Kathleen Murphy 49.3%.
Here is a link to the Virginia State Board of Elections, for these election returns. Here is a Washington Post article about the 34th district outcome.
Texas held a special election for State House, district 17, on January 6. Five candidates ran. Texas special elections don’t have party nominees; all candidates file and run in the same election, and if no one gets 50%, there is a runoff.
The vote was: Republican John Cyrier 3,515; Republican Brent Goleman 1,866; independent Linda Curtis 1,046; Democrat Ty McDonald 907; Democrat Shelley Cartier 290. Because no one got 50%, there will be a runoff between Cyrier and Goleman.
Curtis, the independent candidate, placed third, ahead of both Democrats. This is probably the first time in decades that an independent outpolled major party members in any Texas race for federal or state office. Texas hasn’t elected an independent to the legislature since 1936. Here is a link to the Secretary of State’s web page, giving election returns for that race.
In November 2014, the vote for this district was: Republican Tim Kleinschmidt 64.6%; Democrat Carolyn Banks 35.4%.
