On November 7, Mississippi held an election for state office. Shanda M. Yates was re-elected as an independent candidate. She had been elected to the House from the 64th district in 2019 as a Democrat. In January 2022 she said she was no longer a Democrat but that she was now an independent. She got 62.1% against a single opponent, a Republican. The 64 disrict includes part of Hinds and Madison Counties.

Mississipi voters also elected an independent to the State House in 2019. She was Angela Cockerham in the 96th district.

Every year CATO researchers determine the level of freedom in each nation, by objective criteria. Here is the newest list. It shows that the twelve freest countries, in order, are Switzerland, New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, Estonia, Sweden, Iceland, Luxembourg, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, and Taiwan.

All twelve of these countries use proportional representation. Canada, number 13 on the list, does not use proportional representation.

California’s Secretary of State has released a list of candidates who will be on the ballot for partisan office in March 2024. For U.S. Senate, seven parties have at least one member running, but the party label will not be printed on the ballot for three of them.

There are eleven Democrats, ten Republicans, one independent, and one candidate from each of these parties: American Independent, Libertarian, Socialist Workers, American Solidarity, and Constitution.

Because the last three parties are not qualified, their candidates will have the ballot label “Party preference: none.” The Socialist Workers Party candidate is Laura Garza. The American Solidarity Party candidate is Mark Ruzon. The Constitution Party candidate is Don Grundmann.

Here is the U.S. Senate candidate list.

For U.S. House, there are two Greens, two Libertarians, and three members of the Peace & Freedom Party. Here is the U.S. House list.

For State Senate, there are two minor party candidates, one Libertarian and one member of the Common Sense Party. Here is the State Senate list. The Common Sense Party candidate, Jing Chao Xiong, in the Eleventh District, will not have his party label on the ballot because the Common Sense Party is not ballot-qualified.

For Assembly, there are two Libertarians, two members of the American Independent Party, one Green, and one member of the Peace & Freedom Party. Here is the Assembly list. One of the American Independent candidates, Tami Nobriga in the 9th district, is one of only two candidates listed, so she is virtually certain to appear on the November ballot.

For Assembly, there is only one person on the ballot in these disricts: 4, 20, 22, and 45. Therefore it is plausible that a write-in candidate in the primary could also qualify for the November ballot.