The Independent Party, which is ballot-qualified in Oregon, released the results of its party-sponsored primary on July 30.  The party mailed a passcode to all its registered members, via postal mail, at great expense to the party.  The passcode enabled the registered members of the party to vote on the internet.

This news story says only 4% of the members of the party voted in the primary.  It is interesting that when the Reform Party held a privately-sponsored mail/internet presidential primary in 1996, 4% of the Reform Party supporters who had received a ballot chose to participate.  In that presidential primary, Reform Party voters voted for either Ross Perot or Richard Lamm, for Governor of Colorado.

The Oregon results are available at the party’s web page here.  However, the party web page doesn’t show the party affiliation of the various candidates, many of whom are nominees of parties other than the Independent Party.  Oregon permits fusion this year for the first time in more than 100 years.  In the U.S. House race, 3rd district, the Independent Party’s primary was between the Libertarian nominee, and the Green Party nominee.  The Libertarian, Jeff Lawrence, won, so will be listed on the November ballot as “Libertarian, Independent”.  In the U.S. House races in the 4th and 5th districts, the primary was between the Democratic and the Republican nominees.  In each case, the Republican won the Independent Party primary so will be listed in November as “Republican, Independent.”

On July 29, a U.S. District Court in Arkansas upheld the vote test that determines whether a party may remain on the ballot automatically or not.  Green Party of Arkansas v Daniels, 4:09-cv-695.  Fortunately, the Green Party had done another petition for the 2010 election, so it is on the ballot this year anyway.  UPDATE:  here is the 23-page opinion.

Arkansas removes parties from the ballot if they fail to poll 3% of the vote for the office at the top of the ballot.  In presidential years, parties must poll 3% for President; in gubernatorial years, they must poll 3% for Governor.  The Arkansas Green Party had polled over 20% for U.S. Senate in 2008, and had elected a state legislator, but that didn’t help to keep the party on the ballot.  The party’s presidential candidate, Cynthia McKinney, polled less than 3%, so it lost its spot on the ballot and had to re-petition.  The petition to get back on takes 10,000 signatures.

No federal court has ever struck down a vote test for a party to remain ballot-qualified, so this was a tough case to win.

On June 30, the U.S. Justice Department said that the Department has decided not to take a position in the pending lawsuit Libertarian Party v District of Columbia Board of Elections, now pending in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.  The case challenges the practice of the Board of Elections to not count votes for presidential candidates who are not on the ballot in November, but who do file a declaration of write-in candidacy.

Bob Barr had filed a declaration of write-in candidacy in 2008, along with the names of proposed candidates for Presidential Elector.  The Board says it takes too much cost and bother to count such votes.  The U.S. District Court Judge handling the case had invited the Department of Justice to express its opinion, but the Department’s letter of July 30 says, “After due consideration of the issues, the Department and the United States Attorney’s Office have decided not to take a position with respect to the pending litigation.”

The largest number of write-in votes ever cast in November for a presidential candidate was in California in 1976, when independent presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy polled 58,412 write-ins.

The District of Columbia was ordered to print write-in space on the ballot for President in 1975, in a case called Kamins v D.C. Board of Elections, in the District’s highest court (not a federal court).  That case had been filed in 1972 by supporters of Dr. Benjamin Spock.  Spock was the presidential nominee of the People’s Party in 1972, but he wasn’t on the ballot and his supporters sued so they could cast a write-in vote for him.  They won the case, three years after they had filed it.  Ever since 1975, the Board of Elections has printed write-in space on the ballot for President, but it has never counted the write-ins, not even for presidential candidates who filed a write-in declaration of candidacy.