On November 8, Missouri held a special election to fill the vacant State House seat, 83rd district. Three candidates were on the ballot, a Democrat, a Republican, and an independent. The independent won the election. The results: Tracy McCreery 1,647; Democrat Jeff O’Connell 1,096; Republican Patrick Brennan 1,005. See this story. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
On November 9, Germany’s highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court, struck down a German election law that requires parties to poll at least 5% of the vote in order to win any seats in European Parliament elections held within Germany. See this story. Germany uses proportional representation for both its own elections, and for European Parliamentary elections. The ruling has no effect on elections for Germany’s own Parliamentary elections. Thanks to Dan Walker for the link.
The number of signatures for a statewide minor party or independent candidatea in Pennsylvania in 2012 is likely to be approximately 21,500 signatures. The number is determined by calculating 2% of the vote cast on November 8, 2011, for David Wecht for Superior Court Judge. With 99% of the precincts reporting, Wecht has 1,017,499 votes. Besides the missing 1% of the precincts, his total will probably also rise when provisional ballots are tallied.
On November 8, Americans Elect submitted 17,362 signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State, to obtain status as a qualified party. The law requires 10,000 valid signatures. See this story.
On November 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. circuit, heard oral arguments in Initiative & Referendum Institute v U.S. Postal Service, 10-5337, the lawsuit over whether the U.S. Constitution requires the post office to permit petitioning on its interior sidewalks. The three judges took a great interest in the case, and it is difficult to predict the outcome. The decision might come in a month or in a year.
