Robert J. Healey, Jr., the Cool Moose Party nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island last year, polled 39.15% of the total vote. This was the highest share of the vote for any “other” statewide nominee in Rhode Island since 1875, when independent gubernatorial candidate Rowland Hazard received 39.19% of the vote.

Healey had no Republican opponent, but he was in a race with a Democrat and an independent candidate. He campaigned on a platform of abolishing the office of Lieutenant Governor in order to save taxpayer dollars.

The British blog www.anthonysmith.me.uk has an imaginative “flowchart” showing how a rational voter decides whom to vote for, under the run-of-the-mill system used generally in the United States as well as in most British elections. The British call that system “First Past the Post”. The most common U.S. term for it is the “plurality-winner” system.

The point of the anthonysmith blog post is to show that Instant Runoff Voting (which the British call the Alternative Vote system) is actually simpler for the voter than the old-fashioned system in current use in almost all our elections. See it here. Thanks to Bob Richard for the link.

On November 2, 2010, Pamela J. Brown, Libertarian nominee for Lieutenant Governor of California, received 5.86% of the vote. That is the highest share of the vote any candidate for that office (other than Democratic and Republican nominees) has received since 1922. The race also included nominees of the Democratic, Republican, American Independent, Green, and Peace & Freedom Parties. The total share of the vote going to minor party candidates in that race was 10.94%.

Most observers credit Brown’s relatively high showing to her statement in the Voters Guide. The campaign statement for all candidates for Lieutenant Governor can be read at this link on the Secretary of State’s web page. Every registered voter in California received this guide in the mail. The Secretary of State charges $25 per word, so Brown spent quite a bit of money on her statement.

The minor party candidate in 1922 who received a higher percentage for Lieutenant Governor was the Socialist Party nominee, who received 6.55 in a 3-party race.

Minor party candidates in 2010 for California Insurance Commissioner received, together, 11.85%, but no particular minor party candidate received as much as 4%.