The Washington State Republican Committee set up party rules on May 3. They include rules for endorsing Republican candidates, and authorization for the endorsed candidates to use this ballot label: “GOP Nominee.” See this story. Thanks to Steve Rankin for the link.
Although the media is only concentrating on the Democratic primary, the Republican primary is also interesting. With 88% of the vote counted, the Indiana Republican percentages are: McCain 78%, Huckabee 10%, Paul 7%, and Romney 5%.
Live North Carolina primary returns.
Again, not getting the media’s attention, on the Republican side: with 97% of the vote counted, the Republican percentages are: McCain 74%, Huckabee 12%, Paul 7%, and no preference 4%. And not being reported on CNN, Alan Keyes is getting 2.6% (source is the NC Board of Elections).
On May 5, the first day of the North Carolina ballot access trial was held in state court in Raleigh. The hearing will also take most or all of May 6. The first day heard evidence from three Libertarian activists and one Green activist. The judge seemed very interested in the testimony. The state’s cross-examination seemed aimed at belittling the size of both the Libertarian and Green Parties. Here is an article from the Greensboro News & Record.
Louisiana held two special US House elections on May 3. These are the first congressional elections that Louisiana has held since 1976 in which parties had actually nominated candidates, and for which independents and minor party nominees are on the general election ballot. Therefore, it is now possible for someone to be elected to Congress from Louisiana with less than 50% of the general election vote. And, in one of these elections, that did happen.
In the 6th district, the results are: Democrat Dan Cazayoux 49.20%, Republican Woody Jenkins 46.27%, independent Ashley Casey 3.68%, independent Peter Aranyosi .44%, Constitution Party nominee Randall Hayes, .40%. Casey had said she would caucus with the Republicans if she had been elected.
In the 1st district, the results are: Republican Steve Scalise 75.13%, Democrat Gilda Reed, 22.50%, independents Skip Galen 1.74% and Anthony Gentile .62%.
Many Americans are not aware that London has used Instant Runoff Voting in their mayoral elections since the creation of the elected office in 2000. In each of the three elections, the candidate who received a plurality in the first preference count ended up winning the election.
Also of interest is the fact that all leading candidates were strong opponents of the war in Iraq and of the UK “war on terror.”
Conservative Party candidate Boris Johnson received 42.48% of the vote in the first-round count, and ultmately won with 53.2% in the final count. Incumbent Ken Livingstone received 36.38% in the first-round count, and received 46.8% in the final count. Livingstone was the nominee of the Labour Party, as he was in the 2004 election. However, he was originally elected in 2000 as an independent candidate.
In the first-round tally, the Green Party received 3.15% (compared to 2.9% in 2004) and the British National Party received 2.84% (compared to 3.0% in 2004). The UK Independent Party lost most of its support, getting only 0.91% compared to 6.0% in 2004.
Here are the details with all the candidates, for the three elections:
