Utah registration as of October 19, 2009, has been tallied by the Utah state elections office. It shows: independent and unqualified parties 51.51%, Republican 39.35%, Democratic 8.76%, Libertarian .22%, Constitution .16%.
A year ago, the percentages were: independent and unqualified parties 49.13%, Republican 41.60%, Democratic 8.93%, Libertarian .20%, Constitution .14%. Thanks to Frank Fluckiger for the new data.
On October 28, bills were introduced in both houses of Congress to require the states to let voters register at the polls on election day. The bills would affect federal elections only. The Senate bill is S.1986, by Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.). It has 4 co-sponsors, all Democrats. The House bill is H.R. 3957, by Representative Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). It has 5 co-sponsors, all Democrats.
States that already provide for election-day registration are Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Also, North Carolina permits it at early-voting centers, up until the day before the election.
On October 30, the Illinois Senate voted unanimously to override Governor Pat Quinn’s veto of HB 723. Thus, the bill becomes law. It makes it more difficult for ballot-qualified parties to nominate candidates, after the February primary (the nation’s earliest Congressional primary in history) is over. Existing law lets ballot-qualified parties nominate by party meeting, if the primary didn’t produce a nominee. The new law still permits this, but says such nominees need a petition.
Most observers feel the bill was motivated by the fact that the Green Party became a fully-qualified party in November 2006. Major party legislators in Illinois are not accustomed to having a qualified party on the ballot (other than the Democratic and Republican Parties), and they are certainly not accustomed to having minor party or independent candidates running against them. The only parties, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, that have been fully ballot-qualified in the last 80 years have been the Green Party currently, and the Illinois Solidarity Party 1986-1990.
The petition for unqualified parties to run candidates for the legislature is 5% of the last vote cast, so generally, during the last 70 years, there have been very few minor party candidates on the general election ballot for legislature.
Candidates for Illinois primaries need petitions to get on the primary ballot, and those petitions are due November 2, 2009, for the 2010 elections.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune of October 29 has this op-ed in favor of Instant Runoff Voting. It is co-authored by Don Fraser, who was Mayor of Minneapolis 1980-1994, and George Latimer, who was Mayor of St. Paul 1976-1980. The issue is timely because St. Paul voters are voting on whether to use Instant Runoff Voting in next week’s election.
In related news, the Aspen (Colorado) Times has this editorial in favor of retaining Instant Runoff Voting in that city.
This New York Post story of October 30 says that Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York city and former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has called on New Jersey independent gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett to withdraw from the race, to enhance the prospects of the Republican nominee for Governor of New Jersey in next week’s election.
