Wall Street Journal Article Notes Only 24 U.S. House Districts Voted For President of One Party and U.S. House Member of Other Party

Posted on by December 11, 2012
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Gerald F. Seib has this Wall Street Journal article, noting that only 24 U.S. House districts last month voted for one major party for President and for the other major party for U.S. House member. However, the article notes that the election returns aren’t final and there are seven races in which the calculations might yet change.

Of the 24 districts, 15 voted for President Obama and yet elected a Republican member of the House; 9 voted for Mitt Romney and elected a Democrat to the House. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.

Those who advocate that each U.S. House district should elect its own presidential elector should note that if their plan were in effect, Romney would be elected, even though he lost the national popular vote by four percentage points.

Daily Oklahoman Editorializes in Favor of Easier Ballot Access

Posted on by December 11, 2012
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The December 11 Daily Oklahoman has this editorial, calling on the legislature to ease Oklahoma ballot access. The editorial is welcome, because several months ago, this newspaper (the largest in the state) had editorialized against letting the state Americans Elect Party choose its own presidential nominee.

The editorial is mistaken to say Gary Johnson was on the ballot in 47 states. He was on in 48, plus D.C.

The timing of the editorial is very good. The deadline for introducing bills in Oklahoma is Friday, December 14. Although certain State House members are willing to introduce a bill, they won’t do so unless one Republican State Senator can be found to co-sponsor it. Oklahoma legislators can only introduce eight bills and no legislator wants to introduce a bill unless the sponsor perceives it has a fair chance of passing. In the last session the House passed ballot access reform but the Senate blocked it. However, the Libertarian Party lawsuit against the state’s ballot access law is still pending in U.S. District Court.

Torrance County, New Mexico was Gary Johnson’s Best County in the U.S.

Posted on by December 10, 2012
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It appears that Gary Johnson polled his highest share of the vote in the United States in Torrance County, New Mexico. He polled 5.97% in that county. Within Torrance County, his best precinct was precinct 15, which is in Moriarty, New Mexico. Moriarty has approximately 2,000 people and is 40.8% Hispanic. Johnson polled 8.98% in that precinct.

Torrance County is in the center of New Mexico and is fairly close to both Albuquerque and Santa Fe, although it is predominantly agricultural. Johnson does not live in Torrance County, and maybe Governor Johnson himself would be the best person to ask why he did better there than in any other county in his home state. Johnson’s 2nd best county in New Mexico was Los Alamos County, which was also the best county in New Mexico for Bob Barr in 2008, for Michael Badnarik in 2004, and for Ed Clark in 1980.

Johnson’s best county outside New Mexico appears to be Mineral County, Montana, where he got slightly over 5.00%. Earlier reports that he had polled 18.0% in Wibaux County, Montana, turned out not to be correct, although he did receive 4.60% there.

It is conceivable that there are some better Johnson counties in states in which I haven’t checked, but that seems unlikely.

New York Daily News Lengthy Editorial Attack on Independence Party

Posted on by December 10, 2012
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The New York Daily News has this long editorial, criticizing the New York state Independence Party and the city Independence Party. The piece does not explain that the state party leaders and the city party leaders are completely hostile to each other, and is unfair and misleading in other ways. Supporters of the party have done a good job of setting out their side of the story in the Daily News comments feature. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Green Party of Hawaii Sues State Over Failure to Produce Enough Ballots at the Polls in Many Precincts

Posted on by December 10, 2012
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On December 7, the Hawaii Green Party filed a lawsuit in state court, complaining about the fact that in approximately 25 precincts last month, there weren’t enough ballots. In a few cases, more ballots did not arrive for several hours, so many voters gave up and didn’t vote. Sometimes the replacement ballots were not intended for the precinct that received them. The case is Green Party of Hawaii v Nago, Maui County, 12-1-956(2).

The lawsuit asks for a declaratory judgment that in future elections, this problem will not occur. The Green Party feels that its legislative candidate, Keiko Bonk, would have done better if some precincts in her district had not run out of ballots. The vote in her district, the House 20th district, was: Democrat Calvin Say 5,704; Bonk 3,143; Republican Julia Allen 1,179. See this AP story. Here is the Complaint.