Maine is one of the few states in which a slate of presidential elector candidates, pledged to a write-in presidential candidate, can file for write-in status without the consent of the presidential candidate himself or herself. A group of presidential elector candidated pledged to Ron Paul filed, and Maine has now released the write-in totals. The write-in vote for Ron Paul last month was 2,035 votes, which is .29% of the total presidential vote.

Other write-in presidential candidates in Maine were Rocky Anderson, who received 62; and Jill Reed, who received 30. The four presidential candidates who were on the ballot were President Obama, Mitt Romney, Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein. Johnson received 9,352; Stein received 8,119.

California will also release a write-in total for Ron Paul, but has not done so yet. Chances are his California write-in total will be at least 25,000. Other declared write-in presidential elector slates in California are Stewart Alexander, Rocky Anderson, Steve Durham, Virgil Goode, James Harris, Sheila Tittle, and Jerry White.

New Hampshire doesn’t have a write-in declaration of candidacy procedure. However, the Secretary of State decided to tally the Ron Paul votes, and in that state, Paul was credited with 1,374 write-ins, which is .19% of the total vote cast for President.

The print edition of the New York Times for December 12 has this letter by Teed Rockwell, advocating that U.S. voters support a new political party. The Times chose this letter, not only to be printed, but to be the subject of a readers dialogue. The Times will publish some reader responses to the Rockwell letter on Sunday, December 16.

Virginia State Senator Charles Carrico (R-Grayson) has introduced SB 723. It would give each U.S. House district its own presidential elector. It would also give the state’s two at-large presidential electors to the presidential candidate who carried the most U.S. House districts. The bill has no provision for dealing with a situation in which the number of congressional elections carried by various presidential candidates is tied. Although Virginia has eleven districts now, in the future it might have an even number of districts. See this story about the bill. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news. UPDATE: the bill does have a procedure for dealing with a situation in which the number of congressional districts carried by each of two candidates is tied; in that event the presidential candidate who won the most popular votes in the state would get the two at-large electors. Thanks to Jim Riley for this correction.