On November 4, Ralph Nader will moderate a debate between Rocky Anderson, Virgil Goode, Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein. Although the room only holds an audience of 100 and is already filled with credentialed members of the media, anyone can watch on-line. Go to www.busboysandpoets.com and click on the video stream. The debate is Sunday, 7:30 pm-9:30 pm east coast time. Busboys and Poets is a restaurant that also has a room for public meetings. Note that this event is on the first day of standard time, not daylight savings time.

On November 5, Free and Equal sponsors a debate between Jill Stein and Gary Johnson in Washington, D.C. It is being held in the studio of RT America (“RT” stands for “Russia Today”) and will include a live audience. The debate runs from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. east coast time. The debate will be streamed live by Free & Equal, Free Speech TV, Stitcher, Orion Radio Network, NextNewsNetwork, Yes Magazine, RT America’s YouTube, American Free Perss, and UK-based Reciva Internet Radio. UPDATE: see this criticism of PBS-TV at Irregular Times. So far, at least, PBS-TV hasn’t said it will carry this debate.

Generally, minor party presidential debates are not true debates. The participants use their time to introduce themselves and their stands on issues to the general public, and are not particularly interested in rhetorical battles with the other candidates present. But the Free & Equal Johnson-Stein debate, with only two participants, might possibly emerge as a chance for each of those two candidates to debate the differences between them, particularly economic issues.

The Pearson Foundation this year, as in the past, is sponsoring the “My Voice National Student Mock Election”, in which students of all ages participate in a mock presidential/congressional election. The standards and rules vary widely. In some states, only President Obama and Mitt Romney are placed on the ballot. In some states, the results are not released until actual election day (November 6), but in other states, the results are already being released. Voting took place October 25-November 1, except in some states, the voting deadline has been extended due to Sandy.

Here are results from Kentucky, a state in which only the two major party candidates were listed on the ballot, with no write-in space (the actual Kentucky ballot has five candidates and includes write-in space). Here are results from California, which include all six ballot-listed candidates but do not include write-in space (in the actual election, California still has write-in space on the November ballots for President). Here are results from Montana, which include all three ballot-listed presidential candidates and also permits write-in space. Thanks to Mike Fellows for the Montana link. Chances are, results have already been released from other states. Readers are urged to help find them.

Separate from the Mock Student Election is the mock election conducted for high school students by Channel One News, a network for teen-agers. See onevote.channelone.com for the results, or click here. One Vote national results are: President Obama 50%, Mitt Romney 44%, “other” 6%. It is not clear if the “other” results are available.

Only two candidates are on the ballot for Illinois State House, 10th district, in the west side of Chicago. They are the Democratic nominee, Derrick Smith; and Lance Tyson, an independent candidate whose ballot label is “Tenth District Unity.” Tyson is endorsed by many Illinois Democratic leaders, including Governor Pat Quinn and Secretary of State Jesse White. See this story. The Democratic nominee is embroiled in legal difficulties, although some of the difficulties existed before the March 2012 primary and Smith still won that primary.

Tyson certainly will poll over 5%, and that will cause the “Tenth District Unity Party” to become a qualified party within that legislative district for the 2014 election. It will be entitled to its own primary.