On January 10, the city council of Red Wing, Minnesota, voted to put a ballot measure on the November 2012 ballot. It will ask if voters wish to use Instant Runoff Voting for city elections. See this story. Red Wing has a population of 16,000 and is in southeastern Minnesota.
Delaware Representative Earl Jaques (D-Newark) has introduced HB 11, to make it illegal for two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. See this story. Similar bills have been introduced in recent past sessions of the Delaware legislature, but have not passed. Thanks to Eric Dondero for the link.
At the November 2, 2010 election, Green Party nominees for the State House outpolled their Republican opponents in four districts. The best Green showing was in Brunswick, in the 66th district. See this pre-election story, which has an interview with all three candidates. The results were: Democratic 38.62%; Green 33.33%; Republican 28.05%. The Green nominee was K. Frederick Horch.
The other districts in which Greens outpolled Republicans were the 115th, 118th, and 120th districts, all in Portland.
The organization that is working for the National Popular Vote Plan in presidential elections has found a sponsor for its bill in the 2011 session of the Nebraska legislature. See this story.
On January 18, Sargent Shriver died. He was the Democratic Party’s nominee for vice-president in 1972. He was chosen by the Democratic National Committee, in a committee meeting, after the vice-presidential nominee chosen by the Democratic National Convention resigned from the ticket.
During the 20th century, the only other Republican or Democratic Party vice-presidential nominee not chosen by a national convention was Nicholas Murray Butler, the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1912. He was chosen by the Republican National Committee after the party’s original nominee, James S. Sherman, died during the campaign, on October 30, 1912.
