Riverside County, California, Counts 12,563 Late Votes.

Posted on by July 10, 2010
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Riverside County, California elections officials counted the disputed 12,563 late mail ballots on Friday night, and apparently those votes have already changed at least one outcome from the June 8, 2010 primary.  Before those votes had been counted, Juan Vargas was leading Mary Salas for the Democratic nomination, 40th State Senate district, by only 12 votes.  But according to this story, Salas now leads Vargas, although the story does not tell the new vote totals.  UPDATE:  the earlier story was incorrect.  Vargas defeated Salas by 22 votes.  See this corrected story.

Ben Manski, Well-Known Green Party Leader, Will Run for Open Legislative Seat in Madison, Wisconsin

Posted on by July 10, 2010
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Although the Wisconsin Green Party is one of the oldest state Green Parties in the U.S., it has never run a candidate for Assembly in Madison, Wisconsin (in Wisconsin, as in New York and California, the lower house of the legislature is called the Assembly).  However, Ben Manski recently declared his intention to run for the 77th district seat as a Green Party nominee.

The 77th district has been represented since 1984 by Spencer Black, who is the leader of the Democrats in the Assembly, but he is retiring.  Already, before Manski announced, the race was getting publicity because open legislative seats are so rare in Madison.  See this story.  Thanks to Green Party Watch for the news about Manski.  Here is the wiki article about Ben Manski.

Louisiana Legislator Switches from Republican Party, Becomes Independent, Files to Run for U.S. Senate

Posted on by July 10, 2010
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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 Democrats Lack Nominees for Three of the Five Statewide Races

Posted on by July 10, 2010
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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.