CNN has stopped showing the vote for all presidential candidates by state at its webpage, but the Denver Post webpage (as of the morning of Thursday, November 13) still has that information. The Denver Post webpage is www.denverpost.com/election (here is a link). That brings up an outline map of the U.S. Click on any state to get the vote so far for each presidential candidate on the ballot in that state. Thanks to Frank Fluckiger for this tip.
Chicot County, Arkansas, elected its County Assessor in a partisan race last week. The only two candidates on the ballot were Democrat Barbara Esters, and Green Party nominee Elizabeth McCoy. The County Clerk says the vote totals are 2,227 for the Democrat, and 2,226 for the Green. However, the County Clerk refuses to count one absentee ballot, and even refuses to open the envelope to see whom that one voter voted for.
The Chicot County Election Commission is meeting at 9 a.m., Thursday, November 13, to decide whether to open the absentee ballot or not. The Election Commission will also decide whether to hold another election to break the tie (if there is indeed a tie), although there may not be any authority in Arkansas law to hold a run-off when only two candidates received any votes in the first round. If the Green Party wants a recount, the county may charge the Green Party approximately $1,100 to pay for it.
Chicot County is in the extreme southeast corner of Arkansas, bordering Louisiana and Mississippi. The Green Party nominee, Elizabeth McCoy, is very well-known and liked in the county. UPDATE: a new tally shows McCoy behind by 21 votes, but that tally may be incorrect. That one absentee ballot had not been opened because the County Clerk had thought the law required her to keep it sealed until today. A hand recount will be conducted. The Green Party will pay for the recount, and will get its money back if the outcome shows McCoy to have won, or tied.
The oldest continuously ballot-qualified party (other than the Democratic and Republican Parties of each state) is the New York Conservative Party, which has been on the ballot since 1962. The second oldest continuously ballot-qualified party is the American Independent Party of California, on since 1968. The third oldest continuously ballot-qualified party is the Liberty Union Party of Vermont, on since 1970.
Vermont law says a party is entitled to its own primary if it polled 5% for at least one statewide office in the last election. Most of the time, Liberty Union meets that threshold, but this year it didn’t. Its best statewide percentage this year was 3.75%. Consequently, it is still on the ballot, but it must nominate by convention in 2010. Other years in which the party failed to poll 5% for any statewide office are 1970, 1972, 1988, 1996, 1998, and 2002.
Liberty Union Party has always nominated someone for president who was the national nominee of a party of the left. At various times, Liberty Union has nominated the presidential nominees of the Peoples Party, the Socialist Party, the New Alliance Party, and the Workers World Party.
Peter Diamondstone, one of the party’s founders, has run for a Vermont statewide office, as a Liberty Union nominee, in all elections 1970 through 2008, except that in 1974 he only ran in the Democratic primary, and not as a Liberty Union nominee.
Vermont makes it fairly easy for a party to poll 5% for a statewide office, because the state elects six statewide state offices every two years. Vermont and New Hampshire are the only remaining states that still elect a Governor every two years, instead of every four years.
Ten old-fashioned state elections offices still have a policy of not reporting unofficial election returns on their web pages. These states are: Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, and Wisconsin. If you live in one of those ten states, consider asking your state elections office to revise its policy. If 40 states and the District of Columbia can report unofficial election returns, there is no sound reason why all states cannot do this.
Elections in those ten states are under the control of the Secretary of State, except that in Illinois, New York and Wisconsin, the State Board of Elections is in charge.
The number of registered members in each party, in each state, will be in the December 1, 2008 printed Ballot Access News. Compared to the period January/February 2008, the national totals in the 30 states that have registration by party (counting D.C. as a state) show a relative increase for Democrats and minor parties, and a relative decline for Republicans and independents.
The new figures show: Democratic 43.61%; Republican 30.69%; independent and miscellaneous 24.02%; Constitution .43%, Green .25%, Libertarian .24%, Working Families .05%, other minor parties .71%.
The figures early in 2008 showed: Democratic 41.66%; Republican 31.89%; independent and miscellaneous 24.82%; Constitution .41%; Green .28%; Libertarian .24%; other minor parties (including Working Familes) .71%.
One might have expected Republican registration to rise, since many voters changed to Republican in order to vote in the contentious Republican presidential primaries.
All data is current, except that Louisiana’s is old. By the time the December 1 newsletter is ready for print, current Louisiana data should be in hand. For purposes of the calculation, the American Independent Party of California is assumed to still be the California unit of the Constitution Party. The court case earlier this year between two factions of that party did not resolve the issue, but the case continues.
