Approximately 4,000 Voters in Clarke County, Georgia, Cast Write-in Vote for Charles Darwin, for U.S. House

Posted on by November 8, 2012
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Only one name appeared on Georgia’s November ballot for U.S. House, 10th district. The only name on the ballot was incumbent Republican Paul Broun. However, according to this story, after Broun said recently that evolution was an idea “from the pit of hell”, an organized effort for write-in votes for Charles Darwin was launched. Clarke County, which includes Athens (home of the University of Georgia), tallied those write-ins, and says there are approximately 4,000.

Georgia has a law that requires write-in candidates to file a declaration of candidacy, if they wish their write-ins to be tallied. Therefore, the state official returns will never report the “Charles Darwin” results. But the county election officials were willing to do so. The daily newspaper in Athens will attempt to get the number of write-ins for “Charles Darwin” from the other counties in the 10th district. Thanks to PoliticalWire for this news.

Proponents of Arizona Top-Two Primary Initiative Raised $1,343,540 Through October 25, 2012

Posted on by November 8, 2012
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The Arizona Secretary of State’s web page has campaign finance reports for committees that either supported, or opposed, Proposition 121, this year’s top-two initiative. Donations and spending that occurred up until October 25, 2012 are now known. Donations and spending for the period later than October 25 will not be known until December 6, 2012.

The only committee that raised and spent money to defeat the initiative, Save Our Vote, raised $458,851 and spent $380,985, in the period July through October 25.

Two committees raised money in support of the initiative. The Open Government committee raised $1,330,582 prior to October 26, 2012, and Arizonans for a Top Two Primary raised $12,958. One of the biggest individual donors to the Open Government Committee is Rob Walton, chair of Walmart. On September 19, 2012, he contributed $50,000 to the campaign in favor of the top-two primary.

Proponents of the initiative, of course, spent a great deal of their money on paying petition circulators, and the campaign finance reports don’t make it possible to know how much the supporters spent on petitioning, versus how much they spent on advertising. Proponents spent most of their advertising budget on television. Proponents also arranged for robocalls to registered Republicans, saying that Republicans support Prop. 121; see here for more about that.

Opponents of the initiative had television ads, but seem to have relied more on direct postal mail. Opponents appeared at a panel discussion on October 14. Here is a link to the hour-long event, which included these five panelists: Luis Heredia, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party; Barry Hess, spokesperson for the Arizona Libertarian Party; Mike Liburdi, a Republican and the attorney who challenged the placement of Prop. 121 on the ballot; Christina Tobin of Free & Equal; and Angel Torres, co-chair of the Arizona Green Party. Barbara Klein, president of the state League of Women Voters, moderated. The comments of Heredia are especially interesting; to hear him, go to the 15 minute mark and also the 31 minute mark.

Proponents are charging that the initiative lost overwhelmingly because of large contributions against the initiative from Americans for Responsible Leadership, which has ties to Charles and David Koch. That contribution came in after many Arizona had already voted.

Six Independent Candidates Elected to South Carolina Legislature

Posted on by November 8, 2012
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On November 6, six independent candidates were elected to the South Carolina legislature. However, in only one of these six races did the independent candidate beat major party nominees who were running. That was in the State Senate 23rd district. The results in that race are: independent Katrina Shealy 16,662; Republican Jake Knotts 14,271; Constitution Party nominee David Whetsell 1,587.

In the other five races, the independent who won had no major party opponents. These unusual races included four in which the only candidates on the ballot were independents; and one race in which the only two candidates on the ballot were an independent and a Libertarian. That race, for State House in the 26th district, had these results: independent Raye Felder 5,894; Libertarian Jeremy C. Walters 5,239. Walters notes that the State Election Commission webpage, on election night, omitted one of the sixteen precincts in his district, and says that happens to have been his strongest precinct. On November 8 he visited the county election commission and asked to see the full returns, but was not allowed to see them.

The races in which only independents were on the ballot were State House races, in districts 15, 56, 64, and 105. The winners were, respectively, Samuel Rivers, Mike Ryhal, Robert Ridgeway, and Kevin Hardee.