The Libertarian National Committee is meeting in Arlington, Virginia, November 17-18. IndependentPoliticalReport has been covering that meeting. See here, and then scroll down to comments #88 and #96, in which participants at the meeting commented that Ron Nielson, Gary Johnson’s campaign manager, says Johnson is interested in the Libertarian presidential nomination in 2016.
A November 10 blog post at this site said that 25 minor party and independent candidates had been elected to state legislatures this month. Checking records of past elections reveals that this is the highest such number since 1942, when there were 31 such candidates elected. In 1944, there were 22 such candidates elected, and at no time since 1944 (until 2012) had there been any election with more than 17.
None of the independent and minor party candidates who were elected in 2012 were elected from states with a top-two primary system.
J. Andrew Sinclair, a PhD student at CalTech, has this eleven-page paper analyzing California’s top-two primary experience. The paper was completed shortly before the November 2012 election. Thanks to Election Updates for the link.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections has finished counting votes for candidates who were on the ballot, although it still hasn’t completed the write-in canvass for President. It appears that in 2014 (and also 2016) the state will require 89,379 valid signatures, both for a new party and an independent statewide candidate. This is the highest number in all 50 states for a statewide independent candidate in 2014. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for the number. Activists in North Carolina will again try to pass a bill in 2013 to ease the requirement.
Colorado law lets a qualified party remain ballot-qualified if it has at least 1,000 registered members, even if it didn’t run any statewide candidates. Americans Elect registration in Colorado, although small, has been growing very fast, so that the party will automatically be on the ballot in 2014, assuming it keeps its registrants.
At the October 1, 2012 tally, Americans Elect first crossed the 1,000-member threshold, and had 1,197 registered voters. At the October 19 tally, it had 2,443 registrants. At the November 1 tally, it had 3,017. The party’s registration is highest in the First U.S. House district, which is centered on Denver.
