Source: Ballot Access News

On January 18, the Arizona Secretary of State released a new voter registration tally. There is little change since November 2012, but the percentage of voters registered in the state’s three recognized minor parties increased, and the percentage of independent voters also increased. Here is a link to the data on the Secretary of State’s web page.

The November 2012 percentages were: Republican 35.88%, Democratic 30.50%, Libertarian .71%, Read more »

Source: Libertarian Party (LP.org)

In a major strategic victory for the Libertarian Party, Arizona voters soundly rejected the state’s Prop 121 initiative, which would have excluded all but the top two vote-getters of the primary elections from the general election.

Similar initiatives that passed in prior election years in Washington, Louisiana, and California have been destructive to the LP in those states. Not only do they serve to exclude Libertarians from general Read more »

Source: Independent Political Report

William Sparkman via LP Radicals facebook:

Finally, getting things squared away so I can hit the road. On Jan. 18, Myself (William Sparkman), Thomas Hill and Paulie will be hitting the road for at least two weeks. We would like to get together with radicals along the way to discuss re-radicalizing the party, and promoting our pure principles. No more pandering to the duopoly. If you reside in El Paso, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles county, up Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

The three Libertarian U.S. House nominees in the nation (in races with both a Republican and a Democrat) who received the highest shares of the vote in 2012 were in Arizona, Mississippi and Kansas. Powell Gammill, in the Arizona 9th district, polled 6.64% (16,620 votes). Ron Williams, in the Mississippi 4th district, polled 6.30% (17,982 votes). He is an experienced campaigner and had run for Governor in the 2011 Republican primary. In Kansas, Libertarian nominee Thomas Jefferson, running Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

The second half of this article in the Arizona Daily Sun contains some information about campaign spending for and against Arizona’s Proposition 121, the top-two initiative that lost last month. The story quotes Paul Johnson, chief proponent of the initiative, as saying that he should have built a broader coalition in favor of his idea. Johnson says that is why it passed in California. Actually, it passed in California because it was described so poorly on the California ballot, and because Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

The Arizona League of Women Voters will ask the Arizona legislature to ease ballot access for independent candidates. Arizona requires more signatures in 2014 for a statewide independent candidate than any other state except Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, and Texas.

Also the Arizona petition deadline for independent candidates in 2014 is on May 28, a deadline that is probably unconstitutionally early. The Arizona primary is in August and there is no election Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

On November 3, U.S. District Court Judge Cindy Jorgenson held an oral argument in Arizona Libertarian Party v Bennett, 4:11cv856, in Tucson. The issue is the constitutionality of the Arizona voter registration form, which lists checkboxes for the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, and then a blank line for anyone who wants to register into any other party or to register as an independent. The plaintiffs are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

The Phoenix New Times has this article about the results of the November 2012 election for Arizona State House, 16th district. The district covers Mesa and Apache Junction. Each Arizona House district elects two representatives. The returns are: Doug Coleman (Republican) 41,063; Kelly Townsend (Republican) 40,720; Matthew Cerra (Democrat) 24,942; Bill Maher (Green) 9,094.

The reporter speculates on whether Bill Maher got a relatively big vote because voters confused him with Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Over the years, many major party nominees have been elected to Congress who started out in electoral politics as members and candidates for a minor party. The newest example is Kyrsten Sinema, who has just been elected to the U.S. House from Arizona as a Democrat. In 2002, she was the Green Party nominee for Arizona State House, 15th district (Tucson). The Green Party listed her in 2002 as one of their star candidates who had a chance of being elected. As a Green, she polled 16.38% of the vote in Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

The Arizona Secretary of State’s web page has campaign finance reports for committees that either supported, or opposed, Proposition 121, this year’s top-two initiative. Donations and spending that occurred up until October 25, 2012 are now known. Donations and spending for the period later than October 25 will not be known until December 6, 2012.

The only committee that raised and spent money to defeat the initiative, Save Our Vote, raised $458,851 Read more »