This SurveyUSA poll, released October 20, concerns the presidential race in Florida. The poll only names President Obama and Mitt Romney, but gives respondents a chance to register support for “other.” The poll breaks down the results by sex, and it shows that 4% of males prefer an “other” presidential candidate, but only 1% of females prefer an “other” candidate. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
On October 19, the Tennessee Green Party and the Tennessee Constitution Party filed a supplemental brief in the Sixth Circuit, concerning the order of candidates on the ballot. In their 2011 ballot access lawsuit called Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, the parties had also won on the issue of the order in which candidates and parties are listed on the ballot. The U.S. District Court had struck down the law giving the two largest parties the best spot on the ballot.
The Sixth Circuit had then stayed the part of the U.S. District Court decision on the order of candidates on the ballot, but did not decide the issue. The state had argued that the evidence in the U.S. District Court, showing that ballot order affects voting behavior, doesn’t relate to party-column ballots, and the state had asserted, or implied, that all Tennessee counties use a party-column ballot.
The October 19 filing to the Sixth Circuit proves that some counties in Tennessee use an office-group ballot. The brief has a picture of one of these ballots for the 2012 election. Of course, this filing has no effect on the 2012 ballots, but will be persuasive when the issue is decided in the Sixth Circuit. If the Sixth Circuit eventually agrees with the U.S. District Court, Tennessee will in future elections give each party/candidate an equal chance to be listed first on the ballot.
The Washington Post’s ombudsman, Patrick B. Pexton, analyzes his newspaper’s coverage of this year’s minor party presidential nominees. He concludes that the candidates deserve more coverage than they have received.
On October 18, Gary Johnson and his campaign sued the Commission on Presidential Debates, charging that he is being illegally kept out of the CPD debates because he meets the requirements. The Commission on Presidential Debates has kept Johnson out of the debates because the Commission does not believe that Gary Johnson meets the 15% poll rule. However, the rule does not say that the poll must include any particular set of candidates.
The Johnson campaign, during late September and early October, commissioned five national polls in which respondents were asked if they prefer President Obama or Gary Johnson. In all five polls, Gary Johnson easily exceeded 15%. The specific results were: (1) Gravis Marketing, Obama 45%, Johnson 34%, other responses 21%; (2) NSON, Obama 54%, Johnson 23%, other responses 23%; (3) Research Now, Obama 52%, Johnson 26%, other responses 22%; (4) Toluna, Obama 54%, Johnson 46%; (5) uSamp, Obama 63%, Johnson 37%.
The CPD rules just say that the candidate must be at or above 15%, when five different national polls are averaged together. Under the literal language of the CPD rules, Johnson qualifies. The case is Johnson v Commission on Presidential Debates, U.S. District Court, 1:12-cv-1711. Here is the Complaint. Thanks to UncoveredPolitics for the link.
On October 19, an appeal was filed in Citizen Center v Gessler, the case over whether Colorado should be prohibited from printing individual bar codes on ballots. The plaintiffs argue that the bar codes make it possible for employees of the election office to see how they voted. The U.S. District Court had ruled on September 22 that nothing in the U.S Constitution requires a secret ballot. The case will now be heard by the 10th circuit, case no. 12-1414.
