The only nationally-organized minor parties that had state legislative candidates on the ballot in more than a single state (with their party label on the ballot) are the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties.

At the November 2008 election, the Green Party elected one state legislator in Arkansas, Richard Carroll. Other impressive showings by Green Party legislative candidates occurred in Maine and Minnesota. In Maine, four Greens outpolled their Republican opponents. They are William S. Linnell, who polled 22.27% in the 8th State Senate district; Michael Hiltz, who polled 30.09% in the 115th House district; Daniel Jenkins, who polled 25.47% in the 119th district; and Sandy Amborn, who polled 30.20% in the 120th district. In Minnesota, Farheen Hakeem also outpolled her Republican opponent. She got 30.4% in House district 61B.

The Constitution Party had no state legislative candidates with both a Republican and a Democratic opponent who polled as much as 10%. The highest showing for that type of race was made by Benton Petersen in Utah’s 24th State Senate district, with 9.45%. However, the Constitution Party had two candidates with impressive percentages in races with only a single major party opponent. They were both in Nevada. Janine Hansen polled 34.75% in the Rural Nevada State Senate district (that is the official name of that particular Senate district; it has no number). Also Zachery Triggs polled 30.47% in the 33rd Assembly district.

The Libertarian Party’s best legislative showings were in New Hampshire and Indiana. Rex Bell, in Indiana’s 54th State House district, polled 33.49% in a race with only a single major party opponent. In New Hampshire, exact percentages are not available today because the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s webpage has been down for the last two days. But it appears that Lisa Wilber, in the Hillsborough 7th State House district, polled approximately 28% in a race with a full slate of Democratic and Republican opponents. Check back later for the exact percentage. Other New Hampshire Libertarian state house candidates with a full set of opponents from both major parties who surpassed 10% include Morey Straus in the Hillsboro 11th district, Richard Tomasso in the Hillsboro 17th district, Matthew Kahn in the Hillsboro 27th district, and Brendan Kelly in the Rockingham 14th district. Outside of New Hampshire, Libertarian legislative candidates in races with both a Democrat and a Republican who surpassed 10% are Sheri Stearns in the Kansas 43rd House district, with 12.35%; and Pamela J. Brown in California’s 40th Assembly district, with 14.76%.

The California Libertarian Party has been on the ballot in all elections starting with 1980. In the November 2008 election, it polled a higher share of the vote for its Assembly candidates (in the districts in which it had Assembly candidates) than ever before in its history. Even though all of the party’s 2008 Assembly candidates had both a Democratic and a Republican opponent, the party’s share of the vote in the districts in which it ran Assembly candidates was 6.87%.

California Libertarians running for U.S. House also did relatively well, receiving 4.33% of the vote in the districts which had Libertarians running. Excluding districts with only one major party candidate, that was the best showing for U.S. House for California Libertarians since 1992.

Pamela J. Brown, Assembly candidate in 2008 in the 40th district (San Fernando Valley), polled 14.76% against both a Democrat and a Republican. That was only the second time in the history of the California Libertarian Party that one of its nominees in a partisan race (with both major parties in that race) had exceeded 10%. The other instance was in 1980, when Roberta Rinehart polled 16.78% for Assembly in the 70th district (Anaheim).

A bill to allow Oregon local governments to use Instant-Runoff Voting for their own elections has been introduced in the State Senate. It is SB 29.