Both federal and state courts in Kansas have acted to prevent various candidates in close elections from contacting provisional voters. See this story. The candidates are in elections for which the vote totals are very close. The candidates want to contact the provisional voters in their districts, to assist them in returning to the elections office and finalizing their provisional ballots. But, the courts ruled that this would violate the privacy rights of the provisional voters.
Here is a link to the November 2012 exit poll data. The data shows that whereas only 1% of self-identified Democrats voted for a presidential candidate other than President Obama and Mitt Romney, and only 1% of self-identified Republicans voted for a presidential candidate other than Obama and Romney, 5% of the self-identified independent voters voted for another presidential candidate.
Because independent voters are the voters most likely to vote for minor party candidates, this data shows that a top-two system, which keeps minor party candidates off the November ballot, injures independent voters more than it hurts Republican and Democratic voters.
The data also shows 50% of independent voters voted for Romney, and only 45% of them voted for Obama.
The data shows that 38% of the voters self-identified as Democrats, 32% as Republicans, and 29% as independents.
The data shows that 3% of liberals, and 3% of moderates, voted for a minor party presidential candidate; but only 1% of conservatives voted for a minor party candidate.
The data shows that only 5% of the voters think foreign policy is the most important issue in the presidential election. But among those 5% of voters, 11% of them voted “other” for President.
The Politico web page that shows election returns changes every day. Most state election officials make available a running tally of votes counted, and the people in charge of the Politico page note those changes and include the new figures. However, not all state election web pages show any election returns; these states post no figures until they are final. For those states, of course, the Politico figures haven’t been changing and merely reflect the election night tally gathered by news media.
Adding up the totals as of the evening of November 13, Gary Johnson now has 1,206,361 votes. There are no write-in vote tallies for him from Michigan yet, but there will be when Michigan finishes its tally.
Over the years, many major party nominees have been elected to Congress who started out in electoral politics as members and candidates for a minor party. The newest example is Kyrsten Sinema, who has just been elected to the U.S. House from Arizona as a Democrat. In 2002, she was the Green Party nominee for Arizona State House, 15th district (Tucson). The Green Party listed her in 2002 as one of their star candidates who had a chance of being elected. As a Green, she polled 16.38% of the vote in 2002.
One of the advantages of minor parties in the U.S. is that they often serve as a training ground for aspiring young people who first run as minor party nominees. The experience of running can be educational for the candidate, and may increase self-confidence enough to then switch to a major party.
This story collects many ideas proposed recently by various Michigan elected officials, on whether and how to change the procedure by which statewide initiatives get on the ballot. The story says that former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land has suggested making it possible for voters to sign initiative petitions on-line.
The story also says a bill has just been introduced in the Michigan legislature by Representative Ken Horn, to outlaw paying petition circulators on a per-signature basis. However, the 6th circuit has already invalidated a similar Ohio law, and Michigan is also in the 6th circuit. The Michigan legislature (the one elected in 2010) is still in session, and Michigan lets legislators introduce new bills as late in the session as they wish. However, a bill introduced this late is very unlikely to pass. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
