A presidential poll released July 28, by the Economist/YouGov/Polimetrix, shows: Obama 41%, McCain 38%, other 5%, won’t vote 2%, undecided 14%. See here for more details. The vote is broken down by age category. The “other” vote is highest for the age group 18-29.
Alabama is almost certain to be the only state with no independent or minor party candidates on the ballot this year, for any federal or state office other than president. On July 18, an independent candidate for Governor of North Dakota began circulating his petition. North Dakota had been the only other state in which it was possible that there would be no minor party or independent candidates, but it now seems very likely that North Dakota will have DuWayne Hendrickson on the ballot as an independent for Governor, along with his running mate, Dana Brandenberg, for Lieutenant Governor. They only need 1,000 signatures, and the signatures are not due until September 5. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the news about Hendrickson.
Andy Shugart is expected to file a lawsuit on July 30 against the number of signatures needed for an independent candidate to get on the ballot for U.S. House from Alabama’s 6th district. Alabama is the only state which requires an independent candidate for U.S. House to obtain more signatures than an independent candidate for president. In 1979 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Illinois State Board of Elections v Socialist Workers Party that it is unconstitutional for a state to require more signatures for a candidate running for an office that covers just part of the state, than that same state requires for an independent candidate running for statewide office. Alabama requires 5,000 signatures for an independent presidential candidate, but requires an independent in the 6th district to submit 6,155 signatures.
On July 8, as had been previously noted, Wisconsin Assemblyman Jeff Wood said that he is leaving the Republican Party and is running for re-election as an independent candidate. Because he didn’t reveal this news until just before the primary filing deadine, no one else filed a petition to be on the Republican primary ballot for the 67th Assembly district. Also, no one filed for that office in any other party’s primary either (a Libertarian, Andrew McKenzie, tried to get himself on the Libertarian primary ballot for that seat, but McKenzie failed to get enough valid signatures).
On July 9, the chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, Reince Priebus, wrote a letter to Assemblyman Wood and warned him not to destroy the petitions that Wood had circulated earlier in the year to get himself on the Republican primary ballot. Wood, of course, had not submitted these signatures, since he had changed his mind and had petitioned instead as an independent. Priebus claimed that anyone who had signed Wood’s Republican petition could not validly sign Wood’s independent candidate petition. However, Priebus dropped that claim two days later, and no formal challenge was made to Wood’s independent candidate petition.
But Priebus said that the Republican Party will find someone to run as a write-in in the Republican primary on September 9. Wisconsin election law permits write-ins in partisan primaries, but no one can be nominated unless he or she receives a number of write-ins equal to 5% of that party’s last general election vote for Governor. Any Republican who runs as a write-in will need 485 votes, not an easy task, since Wisconsin Assembly districts typically have about 25,000 votes cast even in the general election, and a small number in the primary.
On July 25, New York city Mayor Mike Bloomberg spoke at a fund-raising breakfast for the Minnesota Independence party. Approximately 100 people each paid $100 to hear him speak; that money will benefit the Minnesota party. In his talk, Bloomberg advocated that taxpayers should not be required to pay for partisan primaries, if those primaries are closed to independent voters. He also praised both Barack Obama and John McCain, but declined to endorse either one. News reports before the breakfast had speculated that he might endorse McCain, but those predictions were erroneous.
The Massachusetts Senate is expected to vote on HB 678 on Tuesday, July 29. That is the National Popular Vote bill, which has already passed the House.
