On May 28, Egyptian election officials released a final, official tally for the presidential election. See the results here at wikipedia (scroll down to the end of the article). The candidate who received the most votes ended up with 24.77%, less than the unofficial tally had reported. The second-place finisher ended up with 23.66%, also less than the unofficial tally had shown. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
According to this story in the Detroit News, the surprising failure of incumbent Congressman Thad McCotter to get on the Republican primary ballot may bring new candidates into the race. McCotter, an incumbent, is running for re-election in Michigan’s U.S. House district 11. The district contains western parts of Wayne and Oakland Counties, and is considered fairly safe for Republicans.
Because McCotter failed to get 1,000 valid signatures to appear on the August 7 primary ballot, he will probably be a write-in candidate in that primary. But according to the story, he may have difficulty winning the nomination, because there is another Republican whose name is printed on the ballot. Also, a more prominent Republican may also launch a write-in campaign. And, although two Democrats are on the Democratic primary ballot (one of them a Lyndon LaRouche supporter), the uncertainty for this seat may mean a more prominent Democrat may also enter the race and become a write-in candidate in the Democratic primary. UPDATE: according to this story, only 244 of McCotter’s 1,830 signatures were valid.
During the month of May, volunteers and paid workers have been working hard in Delaware to increase the number of registered voters in the Green Party, the Constitution Party, and the Working Families Party.
All three were ballot-qualified in Delaware under the old law, which required approximately 300 registered members. But in 2010, the legislature doubled the requirement. The change was not effective until after the 2010 election was over. The Independent Party and the Libertarian Party already had over 600 registered members in any event, so they were not directly injured by the 2010 change. But the new law has forced three other parties to carry out a registration drive.
The three parties were aware that it is easier to get new registered members in Delaware before May 25, when restrictive rules make it impossible for registered voters to change parties. So, all three parties did their best to finish the registration drive before that day, and each believes it has succeeded.
Americans Elect never did any work in Delaware to qualify itself. It is the only state in which Americans Elect could have qualified, without the difficult of coming up with a stand-in presidential candidate, and without a great deal of expense, but in which Americans Elect didn’t try to qualify. This is probably because the founders of Americans Elect have never wanted voters to register into Americans Elect. They are uncomfortable with Americans Elect having registered members. But in Delaware, having approximately 600 registered members is the only way a party may be on the ballot.
Martha Abbott, chair of the Vermont Progressive Party, will appear on the Progressive Party primary ballot in August as a candidate for Governor. The Vermont Progressive Party hasn’t had a candidate on the November ballot for Governor since 2002. Generally, the Progressive Party tends to avoid running in that race.
There is no certainty that the Progressive Party will actually have Abbott on the November ballot this year either. After she wins the primary in August, she will be free to either continue running, or withdraw. For more about Abbott, see this story from 2010.
The Progressive Party’s best showing for Governor was in 2000, when Anthony Pollina polled 9.59% of the vote in November.
An initiative to place a top-two open primary proposal will probably succeed in getting on the November 2012 Arizona ballot. The Arizona League of Women Voters has been studying the proposal for the past several months, and has concluded that the measure is not good policy and should be defeated.
The Arizona League is only the second state League of Women Voters that has studied top-two systems. The Washington state League also studied it and also determined that it should be defeated. The California League has never studied top-two systems.
