The CNN/ORC poll released September 20 lists four presidential candidates. The results are: Obama 47%, Romney 44%, Goode 4%, Johnson 3%, undecided or no one, 2%. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for the link.
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This Toledo Blade lengthy article explains the status of the many pending lawsuits in Ohio over vote procedures.
Minor party and/or independent candidates for Congress will appear on the ballot in 44 states this November. The states in which there will be no such candidates are Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Washington.
In Hawaii, Nebraska, and South Dakota, there are ballot-qualified minor parties who could have run someone without a great deal of effort, but no one chose to run.
In Washington, the top-two primary system produced only Democrats and Republicans on the ballot for Congress. In Alabama and Georgia, the petition requirements are so severe that no one outside the two major parties ran.
This year, Alabama and Oklahoma are the only two states in which no party labels will appear on any ballot in November for any partisan office, except “Republican” and “Democratic.” Lawsuits against the ballot access laws of both states are pending and may get decisions in 2013. In both instances, the U.S. District Court refused injunctive relief, but declaratory relief is yet to be decided.
In Oklahoma the plaintiffs are the Green and Libertarian Parties. In Alabama the plaintiffs are the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties. Both states have petition deadlines for newly-qualifying parties in March. There are no precedents that uphold such an early deadline for newly-qualifying parties.
The Vermont Progressive Party is entitled to its own primary. At the August 28 primary, the party’s state chair, Martha Abbott, filed to run for Governor. Hers was the only name on the Progressive Party primary ballot. She let it be known that if she were nominated, she would withdraw from the general election, because the Progressive Party leadership wanted to have no Progressive nominee on the ballot for Governor, so as to assist the Democratic incumbent who is running for re-election.
However, another Progressive Party candidate entered the primary race for Governor. She is Annette Smith, an environmentalist, and she let it be known that if she won the primary, she would not withdraw and would campaign in November. At the primary, the number of write-in votes for Governor in the Progressive Party primary exceeded the number of votes cast for the ballot-listed Abbott. There were 371 votes for Abbott and 382 write-ins. However, after an initial count of the write-ins, followed by a recount, followed by a lawsuit, Abbott was determined to be the winner, on September 18. See this story. She has already withdrawn from the race.
Here is a longer story about the Progressive Party, written before the primary results were known.
The Progressive Party will have three statewide nominees: Cassandra Gekas for Lieutenant Governor, Don Schramm for Treasurer, and Ed Stanak for Attorney General. Gekas has been cross-endorsed by the Democratic Party.
In other Vermont news, it seems likely that Liberty Union will regain its “major party” status, which will entitle it to its own primary. It needs 5% in any statewide race. In the Secretary of State’s race, the only nominees are Liberty Union nominee Mary Alice Herbert, and incumbent James C. Condos, who has the nominations of the Democratic, Republican, Working Families, and Progressive Parties.