On October 20, the Independent American Party of Nevada, which is the state affiliate of the Constitution Party, issued a press release criticizing the top-five initiative, Question Three. The press release does not criticize ranked choice voting. Instead, it criticizes the initiative for depriving parties of their ability to choose their own nominee.
The initiative is the beneficiary of $17,000,000 in campaign spending. See this story.
On October 19, the four candidates on the November 2022 ballot for Governor debated each other. They included two Republicans, one Democrat, and one independent. See this story.
On October 19, a West Virginia state trial court removed independent legislative candidate Harry “Lee” Forbes from the November 8 ballot. He is running in a State Senate district that has two Senators, one elected in presidential years and one in midterm years. A unique West Virginia law concerning multi-member legislative districts says if there are more than one county in the district, one of the legislators must live in a separate county from the other legislator. See this story. Forbes lives in the same county as the holdover incumbent.
One would have thought that Forbes could have promised to move to another county in the district if he were elected. West Virginia hasn’t elected anyone to the legislature who was not a Democratic or a Republican nominee since 1906. So a promise to move would probably be a safe bet. If he were elected and refused to keep his promise, the legislature would then be free to refuse to seat him.
A Research America poll released on October 7 shows these Illinois results for three statewide races:
For Governor, Democratic 49.7%, Republican 27.7%, Libertarian 6.3%, the remainder undecided or won’t vote.
For U.S. Senate, Democratic 48.2%, Republican 28.5%, Libertarian 5.5%, the remainder undecided or won’t vote.
For Attorney General, Democratic 42.6%, Republican 25.2%, Libertarian 5.7%. See this news story. Thanks to Bill Redpath for the link.
On October 19, the Second Circuit issued an order upholding the New York state petition requirement that was passed in 2020, the increase from 15,000 signatures to 45,000 signatures. The decision is only a few sentences long and merely says the U.S. District Court did not commit any error when it upheld the law earlier this year. Libertarian Party of New York v New York State Board of Elections, 22-44. See it here. It won’t be reported. It is signed by Judges Jon O. Newman (a Carter appointee), John M. Walker (a Bush Sr. appointee), and Eunice C. Lee (a Biden appointee). Thanks to Candace Carpenter for the news.
