Source: Ballot Access News

There are currently many news stories and blog discussions about the Virginia presidential primary ballot access law. Some large blogs, such as Red State, have over 300 comments about the story. Some defend the current Virginia ballot access laws on the grounds that in past presidential elections, a fairly large number of Republican presidential primary candidates managed to qualify. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Louisiana elects all its state officers in the odd years before presidential election years. This year the first round was on October 22, and if no one received at least 50% in the first round, a run-off was held on November 19. Two independents were elected in this year’s election to the State House.

The first independent was an incumbent, Jerome “Dee” Richard. He was Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Massachusetts has released the official returns from the October 18, 2011 special election for State House in the Berkshire Third District. This is the race in which the Green Party nominee came close to winning. The final returns are: Democrat Tricia Farley-Bouvier 1,940; Green Mark Miller 1,748; independent Pam Malumphy 1,325; Republican Mark Jester 899. The winner won with only 32.81% Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

On November 8, 2011, Virginia House member Lacey Putney was re-elected with 42% in a 3-way race. See this story. He had opponents from both major parties. He has been elected and re-elected as an independent every two years (in odd years), starting in 1971. He is age 83. Before he was an independent, he was a Democrat. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

On November 8, an independent candidate, Stephen Bridy, was elected to the Northumberland County Commission. Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, holds partisan elections for this office, and elects all three members at-large. See this story.

The election was close. It happens that each of the two major parties only ran two Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

On November 8, Missouri held a special election to fill the vacant State House seat, 83rd district. Three candidates were on the ballot, a Democrat, a Republican, and an independent. The independent won the election. The results: Tracy McCreery 1,647; Democrat Jeff O’Connell 1,096; Republican Patrick Brennan 1,005. See this story. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

On November 8, Kentucky elected its statewide constitutional officers. For Governor, the vote is: Democrat Steve Beshear 55.6%; Republican David Williams 35.4%; independent Gatewood Galbraith 9.0%.

For Treasurer, the vote is: Democrat Todd Hollenbach 48.7%; Republican K. C. Crosbie 46.7%; Libertarian Ken Moellman 4.6%. See here for more Kentucky Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Greenwood, Indiana, holds partisan city elections on November 8, 2011. The only office on the ballot is Mayor. The ballot contains three candidates: Republican Mark W. Myers; Libertarian Jeff Spoonamore; and independent candidate David A. Payne. The Johnson County Election Board, which handles ballot-printing for Greenwood, originally printed the ballots showing Spoonamore on the bottom. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Seoul, capital and largest city in the Republic of Korea, held a Mayoral election on October 26. The election was won by Park Won-soon, an independent candidate. He is the first independent ever elected to this position since Seoul has been having elections for city office. See this story. Park defeated the nominee of the party that runs the national government. Over 4,000,000 votes were cast in the Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Kentucky elects its statewide state officers on November 8, 2011. There are three candidates on the ballot for the combined office of Governor/Lieutenant Governor. On October 24, a televised debate was held for the three candidates for Lieutenant Governor (Republican, Democratic, independent). See this story. There will be another three-way gubernatorial debate soon. Read more »