The Federal Election Commission has now published “Federal Elections 2012”, a book of election returns for primaries and the general election in 2012, for all federal office. The FEC personnel who prepare this book do an excellent job. The book has 183 pages. It is free and can be ordered by telephoning 800-424-9530.
Jonathan T. Soros has this interesting analysis of the causes of partisanship in the United States. He discusses gerrymandering, top-two primaries, and Instant-Runoff voting. Soros is a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and a co-founder of Friends of Democracy, a PAC that attempts to counter the influence of large amounts of money in campaigns. He is a son of George Soros. Here is a piece he and Mark Schmitt wrote earlier this year about the idea that the right to vote should be explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On October 28, a status conference was held in Hall v Bennett, the federal lawsuit over ballot access in the upcoming December 17 special election for U.S. House, in Alabama’s First District. The issue is whether the independent candidate procedures must be relaxed in special elections, given that the petitioning period is so much shorter. The case is being expedited and a decision is likely no later than November 8. The independent candidate, James Hall, submitted 2,835 signatures on the September 17 deadline. The normal requirement in this district is 5,938 signatures. The Republican Party still hasn’t chosen its nominee, but will do so in a run-off primary on November 5.
This story discusses the recent vacancy in Florida’s U.S. House seat, District 13. According to the story, the Florida Governor has no legal limit on how long he can take to set the date of a special election, and no dates for a special election have been set yet.
On October 28, a New York city Mayoral poll was released by The New York Times and Siena College. See it here. The “other” vote is at 3%, most of which will presumably go to Adolfo Carrion, the Independence Party’s nominee.
