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.

On December 3, attorneys for the New Jersey Secretary of State filed a 21-page brief in the Third Circuit in Balsam v Guadagno, 14-3882. This is the case in which some New Jersey voters argue that New Jersey violates the U.S. and New Jersey Constitutions when it holds partisan primaries and does not permit anyone but party members to vote in such primaries.

The state points that any voter may switch parties as late as 55 days before the primary, and an independent voter may join the party whose primary he or she wants to vote in on primary day itself. The state also says, “Unaffiliated voters in New Jersey possess the same opportunity to participate in the electoral process as party-members.” The state’s brief mentions that ballot access for candidates running outside the two major parties is easy.

Gapers Block, an on-line Chicago newspaper, seems to be the first media to publicize the recent amendment to an Illinois election law bill that would further reduce the number of candidates for partisan office on Illinois general election ballots. See the story.