At Least 8 Minor Party Candidates Elected to State Legislatures (updated)

Posted on by November 4, 2004
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On November 2, the Green Party of Maine, the Constitution Party of Montana, and the Vermont Progressive Party, all elected state legislators.

  • The Maine Greens re-elected John Eder, who had first been elected to the legislature as a Green in 2002. The result was a surprise, since in 2003 the legislature had redrawn the lines and abolished Eder’s district. Eder then moved, and walked precincts in his new district for the last several months, and won again in a 3-party race. Eder polled approximately 54%.
  • The Constitution Party appears to have elected Rick Jore to the Montana legislature, but one vote. There will surely be a recount, so his victory is not certain. This race was also a 3-person race.
  • The Vermont Progressive Party elected six members to the Vermont house. Previously the party had four members. The six winners on the Vermont Progressive Party ticket are Bob Kiss, David Zuckerman, Sarah Edwards, Sandy Haas, Winston Dowland, and Dexter Randall. When the Progressive Party first started winning legislative seats in Vermont, all their victories were in Burlington. Now, however, 4 of their legislators (all but Kiss and Zuckerman) are from other parts of Vermont. Haas and Dowland won in seats that usually elect Republicans.

There may be other minor party victories to state legislatures as well; any others discovered will be added. Let us know if you are aware of any additional wins.

Maine Green Legistator Reelected

Posted on by November 3, 2004
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John Eder, who was elected to the Maine legislature in 2002, was re-elected on November 2, 2004, even though the legislature had redistricted the state house boundaries in 2003 and virtually abolished Eder’s district. Eder won a 2-person race with 51%.

California Prop. 62 Loses in 52 Out of 58 Counties

Posted on by November 3, 2004
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California’s proposition 62, the “top two” method that put all candidates for congress and state office on the June primary ballot, and only permitted the top two vote-getters to be on the November ballot, only carried 6 counties (Butte, Nevada, Lassen, Kings, Imperial and Modoc). It lost in all the high-population counties, even though it had been endorsed by the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News, the Sacramento-Fresno-Modesto Bees, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Some Ohio Officials Cross Out Third Party Candidate Lines

Posted on by November 3, 2004
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In Madison County, Ohio, elections officials used a marking pen on all ballots to blacken out the Libertarian and Constitution Party candidates for president, who had qualified for the ballot in Ohio and whose names had been printed on all state ballots. When voters asked why, it became apparent that the county elections office had taken the order to blacken out Nader’s name, as a blanket order to blacken out the names of all the minor party presidential candidates, leaving only Kerry and Bush.