On September 17, an Illinois gubernatorial poll was released by We Ask America. This poll asks voters about all five ballot-listed candidates. The results: Republican Bill Brady 41.95%, Democrat Pat Quinn 32.43%, independent Scott Lee Cohen 5.06%, Green Party nominee Richard Whitney 3.54%, Libertarian Lex Green 1.65%, undecided 15.57%.
The poll also breaks down voter support according to the voter’s party affiliation. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
Only two independent candidates appear on the Minnesota November 2010 ballot for State House of Representatives. It is has been discovered that one of them, Al Hein, running in the 31B district, was accidentally put on the ballot even though he did not file any petition. See this story. The 31B district is in southeastern Minnesota. UPDATE: see this story about the problem, published on September 21.
Very few candidates qualify as independent candidates for the Minnesota legislature, because the 500 petition requirement is rather steep. The requirement amounts to approximately 2.5% of the last vote cast, and all signatures must be gathered within two weeks. When Hein came in to file, his county election administrators did not know he needed a petition. Candidates running in party primaries in Minnesota need no petition. So, he was put on the ballot with just a filing fee and a declaration of candidacy, and now the ballots have already been printed.
The 31B district was one of the closest legislative races in Minnesota in 2008. The Republican nominee polled 51.05% and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor nominee polled 48.95%.
Minnesota does not have registration by party. However, Hein was the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nominee for that same legislative seat in 2000 and 2002, and he ran in the DFL primary for that same seat, without winning the nomination, in 1998.
See this story, describing U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski’s announcement on the evening of September 17 that she will be a write-in candidate.
On September 17, a U.S. District Court judge in Michigan refused to issue an injunction, telling election officials to put the recall of the Mayor of Flint on the ballot. See this story. The issue is whether there are enough valid signatures on the petition. The case will continue, and if the court finally agrees that there were enough valid signatures, the recall would be on the ballot in a future election.
Back in 1990, Tony Mazzocchi, a prominent labor leader in the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, founded the Labor Party. It is running its first candidate for partisan office this year, for the South Carolina legislature. That candidate is Brett Bursey. Here is his web page. He is running in State House district 69, centered on Lexington, in the center of the state, west of Columbia. The district is currently represented by a Republican who is not running for re-election. Both major parties also have a candidate in the 69th district this year.
The Labor Party became ballot-qualified in South Carolina in 2006, by turning in a petition signed by 10,000 registered voters. Because it turned the petition in so late in the year, it was not permitted to run any candidates in 2006. Parties in South Carolina remain on the ballot by running at least one candidate every four years, so Bursey’s candidacy keeps the Labor Party on the ballot in South Carolina for another four years.
Unlike the Working Families Party, the Labor Party does not believe in ever cross-endorsing major party nominees.
