On July 6, Michigan Congressman Thad McCotter resigned from the U.S. House. See this article about the uncertainty over how to fill his seat. It appears state law requires that a special election be held on November 6, 2012, to fill the remaining two months of the term.
On July 5, Civitas Institute released a poll for the North Carolina gubernatorial election, showing Libertarian Barbara Howe at 7%. See the details here. If Howe gets 7% in the election itself, that will be the highest percentage for any North Carolina gubernatorial candidate who was not the Republican or Democratic nominee, since 1912. In 1912, the Progressive Party nominee for Governor of North Carolina, Iredell Meares, polled 20.4% of the vote, placing second ahead of the Republican nominee, Thomas Settle, who got 17.9%.
On July 7, Libya held a national election for its Congress, the first such election in that country in 50 years. See this article, which explains that Libya is using proportional representation, in combination with direct election of constituency seats.
The Grassroots Party will place a presidential ticket on the ballot this year, in Minnesota and possibly other states. The presidential candidate is Jim Carlson of Duluth, Minnesota; the vice-presidential candidate is George McMahon of Iowa.
The Grassroots Party also entered the presidential elections of 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000. The party wants to legalize marijuana. Thanks to Oliver Steinberg for this news. The Grassroots Party this year also has a candidate for U.S. Senate on the Minnesota ballot. That candidate is Tim Davis.
The Green and Constitution Parties have a lawsuit pending in federal court against North Carolina’s May petition deadline for new parties. The deadline is especially harmful, given that North Carolina requires more signatures to place a minor party or independent presidential candidate on the ballot than any other state except California. For 2012, 85,379 signatures are required.
On June 28, the state filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, saying the entire case should be dismissed now, even before the scheduled trial in 2013, on the grounds that the two plaintiff parties have only made feeble attempts to get on the ballot. The state ignores the precedents that say that parties have standing to challenge early petition deadlines, whether they make any effort to complete the petition or not. On July 6, the parties filed a brief, making this point.
