Here is a pdf of most of page one of the November 2012 ballot from Palm Beach County, Florida. Florida has 12 presidential candidates on its ballot, the second-highest number of any state this year. Colorado has the most, sixteen.

Nevertheless, the presidential part of this Florida ballot is very clear and easy to read. The only flaw is that Palm Beach County, like many other Florida counties, abbreviates the names of political parties to only three letters instead of printing the whole name of the party.

The order of the presidential candidates is determined this way: for parties that have at least 5% of the registration, the party that got the most votes for Governor in the last election is listed first, and the other such parties in order of gubernatorial vote. For parties with registration under 5%, candidates are listed in the order of filing their presidential electors. The Objectivist Party has the third spot on the ballot for President. Thanks to Steve Kolbert for the link.

Melinda Henneberger is a political writer for the Washington Post. In this October 20 column, she explores the meaning of voting for a presidential candidate whose ideas may reflect the voter’s own ideas, in the context of a close presidential election. Henneberger gives clues that she actually agrees with Jill Stein, but questions whether it is rational to vote for a candidate who can’t win.

It is maddening that Henneberger cannot bring herself to talk about alternative voting systems, such as proportional representation, instant-runoff voting, or approval voting. Of course proportional representation cannot apply to an office that elects a single winner, and any mention of proportional representation in the context of an election for the nation’s chief executive would also need to explore parliamentary systems.

But it is a welcome sign that the Post is mentioning minor party presidential candidates this year as much as it has.

Lane County, Oregon, is the 4th most populous county in Oregon, and contains Eugene. Lane County voters will elect a circuit court judge by write-in vote in the upcoming election. See this story. The incumbent judge failed to qualify for the ballot because of a paperwork error.

Four individuals have announced that they are running for the seat. Oregon no longer has a procedure by which individuals file as declared write-in candidates. Instead, write-in votes are not counted in most elections, except that the total number of write-ins for all candidates is tallied, with no breakdown for how many votes any particular candidate received. But, section 254.500(b) says that when no candidate qualifies to have his or her name printed on the ballot, a tally must be made for each candidate who receives as much as one write-in vote.