Even though Rick Lazio lost the New York Republican primary for Governor, he is inclined to continue his candidacy as the Conservative Party nominee, according to this story.  A formal announcement is expected within 24 hours.  The last time the Conservative Party and the Republican Party each had separate nominees for Governor was 1990.  That year, the Conservative nominee, Herb London, polled 20.40% of the total vote.

Assuming the story is accurate, that will make at least five states in which a former or current Republican Governor or member of Congress is running for statewide office this year as a minor party candidate, or an independent candidate, or a write-in candidate.  The others are Lisa Murkowski in Alaska, Tom Tancredo in Colorado, Charlie Crist in Florida, and Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island.  Lazio was a Republican member of Congress 1993-2001.

The Socialist Party is on the ballot for U.S. Senate in Ohio this year.  Its nominee is Dan La Botz.  On September 20, La Botz filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the eight newspapers who are sponsoring three televised debates for the Democratic and Republican nominees for U.S. Senate.  The complaint points out that the debate sponsors have set no objective criteria on who should be admitted to these debates.

The debate sponsors had told La Botz, “The Ohio News Organization generally follows the structure used by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which allows for only the major-party candidates to debate.”  This statement, of course, is inaccurate.  The Commission on Presidential Debates has objective but harsh criteria; any candidate who is at 15% in the polls is invited into their debates.  By contrast, the Ohio newspaper consortium has no criteria except that they only want the two major party candidates in their debate.  Because the debate is sponsored by corporations, the complaint charges that these corporations are making an illegal campaign donation to the Democratic and Republican nominees.

The Ohio U.S. Senate race this year has five candidates on the ballot.  The other candidates are the Constitution Party nominee and an independent candidate.

Most counties in New Jersey squeeze all minor party and independent candidates into a single column, headed “Nomination by Petition”, whereas Democratic and Republican nominees each have their own party column.  Because New Jersey has easy ballot access, there are usually at least seven or eight candidates on the ballot for President, Governor and U.S. Senator.  Many voters probably never even see the names of minor party and independent candidates, because of their awkward spot on the ballot.

Chris Daggett, an independent candidate for Governor in 2009, attracted a great deal of support, and he was the first non-major party nominee to poll over 5% of the vote for New Jersey Governor since 1913.  He had filed a lawsuit in state court on September 18, 2009, alleging that the unequal ballot format is unconstitutional.  Because he filed the case so late, he did not receive injunctive relief.  However, he had intended to keep the lawsuit alive after the election, to win declaratory judgment, which would have been very helpful in the future.  Unfortunately, he has dropped his lawsuit.  The case was closed back on June 22, 2010.  It was Olson v Corzine, Morris County, L30-22-09.