On November 7, California voters rejected an initiative that would have imposed discrimination against small qualified parties into the election law. The “Clean Elections” initiative, unlike similar initatives that passed years ago in Maine, Massachusetts and Arizona, would have provided that Democratic and Republican nominees automatically get substantially more public funding than anyone else. This, despite the fact that all candidates seeking public funding would have been subject to the same burden of getting a specified number of voters to give them $5 contributions. The initiative lost 74%-26%.

As noted some time ago, the Ohio Libertarian Party won a huge victory in the 6th circuit in September 2006; that court struck down the state’s ballot access law for new parties. Ohio had a Republican Attorney General and a Republican Secretary of State at the time. They both indicated they planned to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal. However, Democrats won the Ohio races for Secretary of State and Attorney General on November 7, so perhaps the state will take a fresh look at whether it wishes to ask for U.S. Supreme Court involvement.

Portland, Maine Greens won two spots on the city council on November 7, and retained all four Greens who had already been serving on the city’s Board of Education.