On November 4, 2014, the Hawaii Libertarian Party’s nominees for State Senate, together, polled 7,862. The party had five nominees, and there were eleven districts voting for State Senate. The law passed in 1999 provided for the first time that a party could meet the vote test if it did well enough for its legislative candidates, and requires all of the party’s nominees for State Senate to poll 4% of the total cast for State Senate. That means the party needed 5,572 votes in 2014 for its State Senate candidates, a requirement which it exceeded.

The law also permits a party to pass the vote test if it polled 10% for a statewide office, or 4% of all the votes cast for State House, or 2% of all the votes cast for both houses of the legislature combined. A 1980 Attorney General ruling says that blank votes should be excluded from the denominator, when these percentages are calculated.

The Independent Party polled over 10% for Governor, so it also passed the vote test. The Green Party was not required to meet the vote test because the law also gives automatic status, for ten years, to any party that appeared on the ballot in at least three elections in a row. The Green Party is currently in its ten years of automatic status. Here is a link to the State Elections Office web page, showing 2014 election returns.

Here is a link to the North Dakota Secretary of State’s page. All three Libertarian Party nominees have over 5% of the vote, and all precincts are counted. The party needed 5% for Secretary of State to retain its qualified status for 2016. This is the first time a minor party has met the North Dakota vote test since 1996, when the Reform Party polled 12.20% for President.

In Maryland, the Libertarian nominee received 1.45% of the vote, enough for the party to keep its qualified status in 2016. This is the first time any minor party has met the Maryland vote test since the current law was passed in 1998. The vote test only applies to President and Governor. Although the Reform Party got 6.5% for President in 1996, at that time the vote test was 10%. In 1998 it was lowered to 1%. Here is a link to the Maryland State Board of Elections web page for election returns. Here is a link to the Libertarian Party’s election night election returns news.

Bill Walker, independent candidate for Governor of Alaska, has 47.83% of the vote, whereas the Republican nominee, incumbent Sean Parnell, has 46.42% of the vote. The Libertarian nominee, Carolyn Clift, has 3.00%; the Constitution Party nominee, J. R. Myers, has 2.47%. However, only 45% of the ballots have been counted. The Democrats have no gubernatorial nominee.

If Walker wins, he will be the only independent or minor party candidate for statewide office to have been elected in the November 4, 2014 election. Here is a link to the Alaska Division of Elections web page.

If the final tally shows the Libertarian gubernatorial nominee below 3%, the party will need to increase its registration to 3% of the number of votes cast in the election, in order to remain ballot-qualified. It appears the Constitution Party failed in its attempt to poll 3% for Governor and to thereby become a ballot-qualified party. The Constitution Party is also doing a voter registration drive, but has much further to go than the Libertarians do. The November 2014 registration tally shows 7,182 Libertarian registrants, but 212 Constitution Party registrants.