On April 20, the North Dakota Secretary of State found that all three petitions for party status had enough valid signatures. North Dakota now has five ballot-qualified parties: Republican, Democratic, Americans Elect, Constitution, and Libertarian.
Parties that are not ballot-qualified can still place their presidential nominees on the November ballot, with the party label, if they submit 4,000 signatures by early September.
Stephane Dion, a former leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and a current member of the Canadian Parliament, representing a district in Montreal, has this op-ed advocating proportional representation. The op-ed is published in the April 22 issue of the National Post, one of Canada’s national daily newspapers.
The op-ed is very specific in promoting one particular type of proportional representation, a type that is now used in Finland. The system he describes gives voters the opportunity to choose the candidate as well as the political party. Thanks to Rob Richie for the link.
Tacoma’s daily newspaper, The News Tribune, has this editorial, expressing the point of view that top-two systems are faulty because they leave so few choices in the general election. The News Tribune is one of the oldest daily newspapers in Washington state, and has been a daily since 1883 under various names.
This story reveals that many U.S. House candidates in New York have had their primary ballot access petitions challenged this year. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
On April 21, the Constitution Party nominated Virgil Goode for President, on the first ballot. He is the first Constitution Party presidential nominee to have held important elected office.
The vote was: Virgil Goode 203, Darrell Castle 120, Robby Wells 58, Susan Ducey 15, Laurie Roth 6. Delegates from 35 states cast votes.
Castle carried Arizona, Indiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington. Wells carried Illinois and West Virginia. Ducey carried her home state of Kansas. Roth did not carry any states, and got most of her votes from Michigan. All states not mentioned were either carried by Virgil Goode, or had ties. Thanks to Nancy Chiasson for the vote detail. UPDATE: Jim Clymer of Pennsylvania, the party’s outgoing national chair, is the Vice-Presidential nominee.
