New York City Independence Party Files Amicus in Support of Conservative/Working Families Lawsuit Over How to Count Certain Ballots

Posted on by October 7, 2010
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Last month, the Conservative and Working Families Party of New York state filed a federal lawsuit, challenging the state’s policy on counting ballots when a voter casts two votes for a single office, and both votes are for the same candidate.  The state says it will count such ballots as votes for the party with the higher position on the ballot.  For example, if a candidate is the nominee of the Republican Party and the Conservative Party, and a voter votes for that candidate under both party lines, only the Republican vote would count.

The lawsuit does not say what the state should do in that situation, but it argues that the state’s policy is discriminatory and unconstitutional.

On September 29, the Independence Party of New York city filed an amicus curiae brief on the side of the Conservative and Working Families Party.  The state officers of the Independence Party seem not to have taken a position on the lawsuit.  The officers of the Independence Party of New York city and the officers of the statewide Independence Party are somewhat hostile to each other.

CNN/TIME Poll Shows Tea Party Candidate Does Not Hurt Republican U.S. Senate Nominee in Nevada

Posted on by October 7, 2010
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A CNN/TIME poll of the Nevada U.S. Senate race shows that Scott Ashjian’s presence on the ballot as the Tea Party candidate does not injure the Republican nominee, Sharron Angle.  See it here.  Scroll down to Nevada.

The pollster first got these results:  Sharron Angle, Republican, 42%; Harry Reid, Democrat, 40%; Scott Ashjian, 7%; None of the Above or Other, 10%.

Then the pollster asked respondents to imagine that Angle and Reid are the only two names on the ballot, and asked how they would vote.  The results:  Sharron Angle 47%; Harry Reid 45%; would refuse to vote for either 8%.

This evidence corroborates survey research and election returns research showing that Ralph Nader did not injure John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.  It confirms the findings of the research done by Samuel Lubell about the 1948 presidential election, showing that Henry Wallace helped, and did not injure, Harry Truman.  It matches the findings of the social psychology research about three-cornered choices generally, presented in the book “Predictably Irrational.”  Yet it completely contradicts the perceived wisdom that a minor party of the “right” injures Republicans, and a minor party of the “left” injures Democrats.  Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.

California Minor Party Gubernatorial Candidates Hold Press Conference to Publicize Lack of Inclusive Debates

Posted on by October 6, 2010
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Over half the states in which major party gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidates have debated each other have included at least one minor party or independent candidate in those debates.  However, this year in California, no statewide candidate debates between the major party nominees have included any minor party or independent candidates.

On October 6, the California minor party gubernatorial candidates held a press conference in Sacramento, to publicize the idea that California is behind the remainder of the country.  The event was sponsored by Free & Equal.  See this Sacramento Bee story.

The November 1 print edition of Ballot Access News will list the states and debates that have been inclusive, for statewide office.

Florida Court Sets October 12 Trial Date in Lawsuit over Identity of Republican Legislative Nominee

Posted on by October 6, 2010
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A Florida trial court will hold a trial on October 12 to determine if the winner of the Republican primary for one particular State Senate seat should be Jim Norman or Kevin Ambler.  The Florida primary was on August 24, and Norman defeated Ambler.  However, Ambler sued to set aside the results, on the grounds that Norman broke campaign finance laws.  See this story.  There are no Democratic, minor party or independent candidates in this race.