On October 9, the Socialist Party of France held a presidential primary. Because the party paid for the election, it charged one voters one Euro to vote. Approximately 2,000,000 voters participated. Anyone who said he or she identifies with the left was permitted to vote. Six candidates were on the ballot. The results were: Francois Hollande 39%, Martine Aubry 31%, Arnaud Montebourg 17%, Segolene Royal 7%, Manuel Valls 6%, and Jean-Michel Baylet 1%.

Because no one got as much as 50%, a run-off is being held on October 16 between Hollande and Aubry. Before the first round, all six candidates debated each other on television. Here is a picture of the candidates. Two of the candidates, Francois Hollande and Segolene Royal, were once married to each other.

The election itself is April 22, 2012, with a run-off on May 6 if no presidential nominee gets as much as 50%. Typically, nine or ten parties appear on the presidential ballot.

The lawsuit Libertarian Party v District of Columbia Board of Elections will proceed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit. This is the case over whether election officials must count write-in votes for declared write-in presidential candidates in the District of Columbia. In 1974 the D.C. Court of Appeals had ruled that D.C. must print write-in space on November ballots for President. The D.C. Board complied, and set up a procedure by which declared write-in candidates for president may file a declaration of write-in candidacy. However, the Board has never counted the write-in votes for any such presidential candidate.

The U.S. District Court had upheld the Board’s policy, ruling that the interest in saving money and work outweighs the voter’s right to have his or her votes counted. Both sides then attempted mediation, but that has not worked, so the case now goes to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Sometime during the first week in October, the Americans Elect web page updated the number of signatures that have been obtained on the group’s ballot access petitions so far this year. The new national total is 1,829,264. That contrasts with 1,755,557, the figure that had been posted on August 30.

Because Americans Elect submitted 1,621,627 signatures in California, a simple subtraction shows that Americans Elect has collected 207,637 signatures outside of California so far.

By mid-October of 1995, the Reform Party had only begun ballot access petitioning or registration activity in California, so Americans Elect is ahead of the Reform Party, for this point in the cycle. However, the Reform Party had the advantage that it would soon be recognized in Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Virginia, without having to petition, based on already-qualified state parties in those four states that were about to affiliate with the national Reform Party.