The Santa Fe New Mexican for August 24 has this op-ed by Carol Miller, a leading activist for independent candidates. It rebuts the column carried by the same newspaper several weeks ago, the New York Times piece (reprinted in the New Mexican) by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, advocating top-two primaries. UPDATE: the piece is now in Counterpunch as well, with a few minor changes.
On August 23, nMessage and the Maryland Republican Party released this gubernatorial poll: Democrat Anthony Brown 42%; Republican Larry Hogan, Jr., 41%; Libertarian Shawn Quinn 3%, undecided 14%.
When undecided respondents are asked if they lean to any particular candidate, the results are: Democratic 45%, Republican 42%; Libertarian 4%; undecided 9%. Here is a Baltimore Sun story about Quinn.
There are only three candidates on the ballot. The Green Party is ballot-qualified but chose not to run anyone for Governor. If Quinn gets at least 1%, the Libertarian Party will remain on the ballot for the 2016 election. No minor party nominee for Maryland Governor has polled as much as 1% since 1970, when the American Party received 1.97%. The only offices that count for retention are President and Governor. The Green Party is already circulating its 2016 party petition in Maryland. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
This Illinois Herald story gives interesting details about how Republicans tried to persuade signers of the Illinois Libertarian statewide slate petition to remove or disavow their signatures, and how some of the petitioners themselves were threatened. The Illinois Herald is an on-line weekly newspaper published in Chicago by Mark Wachtler. Thanks to Independent Political Report for the link.
Joe Visconti, an independent candidate for Governor of Connecticut, has qualified for the ballot. See this story, which says that the Secretary of State has determined that he has at least 7,500 valid signatures. In 2008 he was the Republican nominee for U.S. House in the First District. This year, his ballot label will be “petitioning candidate”, which is Connecticut’s ballot label for independent candidates. Even if he gets over 1% of the vote, his vote will not establish a party that is ballot-qualified for future gubernatorial races.
Visconti is the only statewide candidate who has qualified by petition in Connecticut so far this year. The only other statewide candidate who even tried is Jonathan Pelto, also running for Governor, but his petition is likely to fall short. Thanks to Timothy McKee for this news.
The Tenth Circuit will hear oral arguments in Kobach v U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 14-3062, on Monday, August 25, according to this New York Times story. This is the case on whether Kansas and Arizona can alter the federal voter registration postcard form, to require documents to be attached that prove the applicant is a citizen.
