Minnesota’s Republican Secretary of State, Mary Kiffmeyer, was defeated on November 7 by the Democratic nominee for that office, Mark Ritchie. Kiffmeyer had not taken a position on alternate voting systems, but Ritchie supports experimenting with Instant-Runoff Voting. This outcome parallels the California Secretary of State race noted on an earlier posting. Thanks to Matt Spencer for this news.
Richmond, California voters elected a member of the Green Party to be Mayor, on November 7. Unlike many cities in California, the voters directly choose their Mayor by a direct election (the more normal California pattern is for the city council to choose one of its own to be Mayor). The election, like all city and county elections in California, is non-partisan. However, the winning Green is well-known for being a member of the Green Party. She has been on the city council since 2002. She is Gayle McLaughlin, who won a 3-person race with 37.2% of the vote. The defeated incumbent, Irma Anderson, polled 36.1%, and a third candidate, Gary Bell, received 26.1%. The remaining .6% was cast for write-in candidates.
On November 7, Eureka County, Nevada voters elected Jackie Berg to be the new County Clerk-Treasurer. The vote was Berg (Constitution) 389; Karen LaBarry (Republican) 238; Elizabeth Smith (Libertarian) 92.
The Republican nominee had lived in Eureka County for approximately 30 years and had married into a prominent local ranching family. Berg, by contrast, had only lived in Eureka County since 2004. But, she was Deputy County Clerk-Treasurer, and she campaigned very hard. Berg has been a member of the Constitution Party since 2002. In Nevada, the Constitution Party is named the Independent American Party.
To a certain extent, LaBarry took victory for granted, since she was the only major party nominee in the race.
Professor Michael McDonald has estimated turnout at 39.7% at the election this week. This means 39.7% of the potential electorate voted (including registered voters as well as those who could have registered).
Paul Trujillo, Libertarian County Commissioner in Valencia County, district 3, was defeated for re-election, although he outpolled his Republican opponent. The vote was Democratic 1,781 (47.1%), Libertarian 1,006 (26.6%), Republican 994 (26.3%).
New Mexico is one of the fourteen states that uses a straight-ticket device, so that voters frequently vote for every partisan office on the ballot without even being aware of which offices they are voting for, or who is running.
It is still true that no party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties has ever won a partisan election in New Mexico. Minor parties were traditionally very weak in New Mexico in the past. Greens were strong in the 1990’s, and elected several non-partisan candidates, but never won a partisan race.
