Washington State Senator Craig Pridemore, who had been running a strong campaign for the open U.S. House seat in the 3rd district (southwest Washington state), has suddenly dropped out of the race. This commentary from the Northwest Progressive Institute Advocate believes Pridemore’s decision is because there is a possibility that if he stayed in the race, the Washington state top-two system would create a general election with no Democrat on the November ballot.

Although the 3rd district is currently held by Democrats, primary turnout in Washington state is higher among Republicans than among Democrats. Thanks to Dan Meek for the link.

On June 2, the Utah Supreme Court heard arguments in Anderson v Lieutenant Governor, 2010-237. The issue is whether signatures may be collected electronically. The plaintiff, Farley Anderson, is an independent candidate for Governor. He won’t be on the ballot unless the Court agrees with some of Utah’s county elections officials that the electronic signatures Anderson gathered are valid. The counties have already checked the signatures, and they believe that the signatures are, or should be, considered valid. See this story.

Oklahoma has very easy ballot access for independent candidates, for all office except President. This year two Libertarians are running for Congress in Oklahoma as independents. They are Angelia O’Dell for U.S. House, 1st district, and Clark Duffe, U.S. House, 5th district. They are the first Libertarians to run for Congress in Oklahoma since 2002.

It would be good strategy for other minor parties to also run for federal and state office as independents in Oklahoma this year. If there are a good number of minor party candidates, they can let voters know that they are really minor party candidates, and that it is the fault of Oklahoma election laws that their true party preference is being hidden on the ballot. Thanks to Bill Redpath for the news about the two Libertarian candidates.