Montana Libertarian nominee Mike Fellows polled 42.45% of the vote in his race for Clerk of the Montana Supreme Court. This is a partisan statewide race. Fellows’ only opponent was the Democratic incumbent, Ed Smith. Fellows’ showing is the largest percentage of the vote that a statewide Libertarian nominee has ever polled in any state, in the party’s history. Fellows carried at least 17 counties, and as this is written, many counties haven’t reported results yet.
Keiko Bonk, a strong Green Party nominee for the Hawaii state house, polled 30% in a race against both a Democrat and a Republican. She placed second, well ahead of the Republican nominee. See this story.
Minnesota voters have defeated Constitutional Amendment 2, which would have added a section to the Minnesota Constitution, requiring voters at the polls to show government photo-ID to vote at the polls. The vote as of 4 a.m. Minnesota time is: 1,318,253 in favor, and 1,500,205 opposed.
Last year, top leaders of Americans Elect tried very hard to persuade Mitt Romney to seek the Americans Elect nomination. If Romney had done so, obviously he would have won that nomination. His campaign could then have presented him as an independent-minded centrist, and his stands on issues in this year’s presidential election would probably have been consistent with the values he expressed when he ran for U.S. Senate in 1994 and when he was elected Governor in 2002.
As the Americans Elect nominee, he would have looked courageous and innovative. Because he is so wealthy, and because he has many wealthy backers, his campaign could have been financially competitive with the two major party nominees.
With 37% of the Arizona vote counted, Proposition 121 is being defeated by 33.6% to 66.4%. This is the measure to convert Arizona elections to the top-two system. The outcome here is very similar to the 2008 Oregon results, when top-two was defeated 34%-66%, even though almost all daily newspapers in Oregon had endorsed it. The big newspapers in Arizona had also endorsed it. Here is a brief news story about the Arizona outcome.
