The Arizona Republic, the state’s largest newspaper, has this feature story about the four Libertarians running in the Libertarian primary for Governor, and also the story includes the only Green Party candidate for Governor.
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Louisiana Representative Ernest D. Wooton recently changed his voter registration from “Republican” to “independent”, and he also filed to run for U.S. Senate as an independent candidate. Wooton has been in the legislature since 1999, and he will continue to be in the legislature through 2011, assuming he doesn’t resign or die. He represents Plaquemines Parish, in the extreme southeast corner of the state. He was also Sheriff of Plaquemines Parish 1984-1992.
The Reform Party also has a candidate in the U.S. Senate race. He is William McShan of Leesville. Louisiana has five qualified parties: Democratic, Green, Libertarian, Reform, and Republican. Incumbent U.S. Senator David Vitter, a Republican, is running for re-election. There are eight independent candidates. Thanks to Gene Berkman for the news about Wooton. UPDATE: there is a contested primary for the Libertarian Party U.S. Senate nomination, between Anthony Gentile and Randall Hayes. Thanks to Hayes for this information. This is the first minor party primary in Louisiana since at least the 1910’s decade. The Progressive Party was strong in Louisiana in the 1910’s and it may have had its own primary in either 1914 or 1916. There definitely has been no contested minor party primary in Louisiana since then. In Louisiana, when only one person files for office in any party’s primary for all offices, the state does not hold a primary for that party.
Nebraska voters will choose elected officials for five partisan offices on November 2, 2010: Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, and Auditor. For three of those five offices, the Democratic Party currently has no nominee. No one ran in the May 11 Democratic primary for Attorney General or Auditor. One Democrat, Mark Lakers, did run in Democratic primary for Governor, but he recently withdrew from the race. See this story.
Democrats have the option of choosing nominees at the state convention on July 23-25.
No parties, other than the two major parties, are on the ballot now, although the Libertarian Party is petitioning. That petition is due August 1 and requires 5,921 valid signatures.
The Rules and Bylaws Committee of the National Democratic Committee has voted to accept the recommendations of the Democratic Change Commission on timing of 2012 presidential primaries and caucuses. Now the proposal will get a vote of the full Democratic Committee next month. The main difference the proposal makes, relative to 2008, is that no January primaries or caucuses will be recognized. In 2008, January primaries were held in New Hampshire, Michigan, South Carolina, and Florida.
On July 9, the staff of the New York City Charter Revision Commission issued a 66-page report, making certain recomendations for changes in the city charter. Some of the recommendations concern election law.
The Report recommends use of Instant Runoff Voting for partisan primaries for the three citywide offices. The Report says that IRV should also be studied for partisan primaries for city council and borough president races. The Report also recommends that the number of signatures for candidates to get on primary ballots, and also the number of signatures for getting on general election ballots, should be reduced by 50%. These recommendations are in Part II.
The Report, in Part V, discusses the idea that New York city should use non-partisan elections, but makes no recommendation about that idea. Thanks to Rob Richie for the link.