The Georgia Libertarian Party is only ballot-qualified for statewide offices, not for U.S. House or state legislative races. However, a Georgia Libertarian candidate will be on the ballot for State Senate, 30th district, in the special election set for January 8, 2013. In Georgia special elections, anyone can get on the ballot by paying a filing fee; no petition is needed. In regularly-scheduled elections, though, candidates who are not Republican or Democratic nominees need a petition signed by 5% of the registered voters.

The Libertarian candidate, James Camp, will be the only person on the ballot other than Republican nominee Mike Dugan. There is a special election for this seat because the incumbent Senator who won the 2012 Republican primary, Bill Hamrick, resigned from the Senate on September 10, 2012, to accept a judicial appointment. The state then cancelled the general election that was to have been held for this seat on November 6, 2012. Instead the state held a Republican primary for the 30th district on November 6, and a run-off Republican primary on December 4.

The outcome of the Republican primary was a surprise. At the first Republican primary, on November 6, 2012, four Republicans had run, and a former member of the State House, Bill Hembree, had polled over 48%. If he had had at least 50% there would have been no run-off primary. But at the run-off primary on December 4, Hembree lost to Mike Dugan, who had only polled 27% in the November primary. Only 6% of the voters voted in the run-off primary on December 4. Hembree had given up a sure chance to be elected to the State House, by choosing instead to run in the State Senate Republican primary. He had already won the Republican primary for State House, 67th district, this year, but he resigned from that race so as to run for State Senate. His Republican replacement in the 67th district House race, Micah Gravley, easily won in November, defeating his Democratic opponent with 67.8% of the vote, so Hembree gave up a virtually certain victory in the House race and now won’t be going to either house.

According to Professor Michael McDonald’s United States Elections Project, as of the morning of December 5, 27 states have released their official vote tallies.

On December 5, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer introduced a bill to require certain states to expand the number of vote-counting machines. The bill doesn’t have a bill number yet, but it would require the Attorney General to obtain data about which states had precincts in which voters had to stand in line for more than an hour, and require those states to solve the problem. The bill would only apply to federal elections. See this press release from Boxer’s office. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news.