Louisiana defines “political party” as a group that obtains at least 1,000 registered voters. At the point at which a group attains that many registrations, it then must also pay a fee of $1,000. It is then a qualified party, and retains that status as long as it runs one candidate (for office other than president) during any four-year period. It is irrelevant if its registration then declines to below 1,000.

Americans Elect had been working to increase its registration in Louisiana, earlier this year, before it dropped out of the 2012 presidential race. As of the June 1 tally it had 803 registrants.

Even though Americans Elect stopped all its ballot access petitioning around the nation in May, the July 1 Louisiana registration tally shows an increase to 829 registrations. It is possible that some individuals not connected with the Americans Elect office in Washington, D.C., are working on completing the drive. Thanks to Randall Hayes for the news about the new tally.

Los Angeles County, California, has now finished tallying write-in votes for declared write-in candidates in the June 5, 2012 primary. In the U.S. House race, 37th district, there had been only one name on the primary ballot, incumbent Karen Bass, a Democrat. Therefore, whichever declared write-in candidate polled the most votes in this district would place second, and would appear on the November ballot. Three write-in candidates filed, a Republican, a Peace & Freedom member, and a Libertarian. The Republican received the most write-ins.

Republican Morgan Osborne got 36 write-ins; Peace & Freedom member Adam Shbeita received eight; Libertarian Sean McGary received four. Here is a link to all the Los Angeles County write-ins from the June primary for federal and state office.

This means that no minor party member will appear on the November ballot for any of California’s 53 U.S. House races. This is the first California election since 1966 with no minor party members on the November ballot for either house of Congress.

In state legislative races, the only minor party members who will be on the November ballot will be three Peace & Freedom members. All three were write-in candidates in the primary, and in all three races only one person, a Democrat, appeared on the primary ballot. The three Peace & Freedom Party members are Mary McIlroy for State Senate, 9th district (Berkeley); Eugene Ruyle for Assembly, 15th district (Berkeley); and Lee Chauser, State Senate, 33rd district (Los Angeles).

On July 1, Mexico held presidential and congressional elections. Although Mexico uses proportional representation for the lower chamber of its national legislative body, for President it holds a winner-take-all election with no run-off. The preliminary results are: Institutional Revolutionary Party nominee Enrique Pena Nieto, 18,727,398; Party of the Democratic Revolution, Andrews Manuel Lopez Obrador, 15,535,117; National Action Party, Josefina Vazquez Mota, 12,473,106; New Alliance Party, Gabriel Quadri, 1,129,108. There were also 1,191,067 blank or invalid votes, and 31,660 write-ins.

The New Alliance Party seems to be very much like the Libertarian Party of the United States. Its presidential nominee seemed to favor legalization of at least some illegal drugs, same-sex marriage, fewer restrictions on abortion, and selling 49% of Pemex to private investors. Pemex is the government-owned oil company.

Here is the wiki page about the election, including information on the congressional elections as well. To see an interactive map which shows the vote for president by state, go to www.ife.org.mx. Click on the “Mapa con Resultados Electorales Preliminares.”

There will be recounts in approximately one-third of the precincts, which is normal procedure.