According to this story, a poll for the Maine U.S. House race, First District, shows that although the Democratic incumbent is far in the lead, the independent in the race is outpolling the Republican nominee. The results are: Democrat Chellie Pingree 51.4%; independent Richard Murphy 10.4%; Republican Isaac Misiuk 8.7%; undecided 29.5%. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the link.
On September 16, U.S. District Court Judge S. Arthur Spiegel, a Carter appointee, ruled that Ohio must let people who are in jail, but who haven’t been convicted of a crime because they are awaiting trial, vote absentee.
The state already generally lets such people vote absentee, but for those individuals who happen to be arrested after 6 p.m. on the Friday before election day, and who are still in jail on election day, voting is impossible. The order requires the state to send election officials to jails to make it possible for them to cast absentee ballots. Fair Elections Ohio v Husted, s.d., 1:12cv-797. One might think that the number of persons in jail who had been arrested after 3 p.m. on the Friday before election is a very small number of people. But the plaintiffs showed that there were 400 such individuals in Ohio in the 2012 election. The case had been pending since 2012.
Judge Spiegel is one of the nation’s oldest federal judges. He will be age 94 on October 24, 2014.
The Portland (Oregon) Mercury is that city’s leading free weekly alternate newspaper, and has existed since 2000. Here are the Mercury’s recommendations for all the statewide ballot measures. Scroll down to the discussion of Measure 90, the top-two ballot measure. The newspaper endorses the “no” position.
On October 20, the four ballot-listed candidates for Secretary of State of Minnesota debated. They are the nominees of the Democratic, Republican, Independence, and Libertarian Parties. See this story.
On October 9, the city of Los Angeles named Luis J. Rodriguez poet laureate for the city. See this story.
No one is allowed to vote for Rodriguez for California Governor next month, because he did not place first or second in June. The Green Party has never polled as much as 1,000,000 votes for the offices at the top of the ballot in a mid-term year. It is likely that if Rodriguez were on the California November ballot, the Green Party would exceed 1,000,000 votes for the top offices for the first time in a mid-term year. Howie Hawkins is likely to receive 500,000 votes for Governor of New York, and Anita Rios is likely to receive 200,000 for Governor of Ohio. This year the Green Party also has candidates on the ballot for the top office in Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Michigan, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. The total would probably reach 1,000,000 if Rodriguez were on the California ballot.
The best showing in the Green Party’s history, for the top office in mid-term years, was in 2006, when the national total was 955,866.
