This column by Benjamin Lukoff suggests that Washington voters, when faced with the restrictive choices on the November ballot caused by the recently revived “Top-Two” Primary system, may now be attracted to abolishing the primary in favor of Instant-Runoff Voting in November. Thanks to Steve Rankin for the link.
The March 26 Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this article about Bob Barr’s possibly becoming a candidate for the Libertarian Party presidential nomination.
On March 27, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) addressed the Florida State Senate. He chose to use his speech to advocate for several election law changes. Concerning the presidential primary process, he proposed a national agreement for rotating regional primaries. He also again advocated that the Democratic National Committee agree to seat half of Florida’s delegation.
Concerning the electoral college, he seemed to endorse the National Popular Vote Plan for ending the possibility that the person who places 2nd in the national popular vote could still be declared the winner.
He also advocated no-excuse absentee voting, mail voting, and experimentation with internet voting.
The Missouri Senate Committee on Finance, Governmental Organization & Elections, will hold a hearing on HB 1310 on Monday, March 31. HB 1310 moves the independent candidate petition deadline for all office from late July to March. The bill has already passed the House.
The staff of the Senate Committee knows that in 1976, a 3-judge U.S. District Court in Missouri ruled that state’s old April petition deadline unconstitutional. The staff also knows that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Anderson v Celebrezze in 1983 that March 20 is too early for independent presidential petition deadlines. Nevertheless, anyone reading this who can attend the hearing, should do so, to testify against the bill.
29 states and the District of Columbia have held presidential primaries so far this year. From official sources, these are the national totals (this just includes primaries, not caucuses):
Democrats: Hillary Clinton 13,920,268; Barack Obama 13,855,412; John Edwards 957,712; Bill Richardson 104,303; Dennis Kucinich 102,241; Joe Biden 81,091; Chris Dodd 35,092; Mike Gravel 23,872; other 640,198. The bulk of the “other” is the uncommitted slate in Michigan. The vote for that was huge, since Barack Obama and John Edwards weren’t on the Michigan Democratic ballot.
Republicans: John McCain 7,613,865; Mitt Romney 4,487,320; Mike Huckabee 3,955,006; Ron Paul 803,825; Rudy Giuliani 584,626; Fred Thompson 272,583; Alan Keyes 40,855; Duncan Hunter 37,580; other 69,137.
