On November 29, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the Terry Baum case, Baum v Superior Court, no. 04-416. The issue is whether write-ins should count if the voter didn’t check the box next to the name that the voter had just written in. The case originated in the Green Party congressional primary in March, 2004, in San Francisco.

The court’s refusal to hear the case was discouraging for Donna Frye, who probably received more votes than any other candidate on November 2, 2004, for Mayor of San Diego. Frye was credited with 155,454 write-in votes. Incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy received 157,938 votes, and the other candidate whose name was printed on the ballot, Ron Roberts, got 141,874.

However, there were at least 4,500 write-in votes in the San Diego Mayoral election which were never counted, because the voter didn’t check the box next to the name written in. Probably at least 95% of them were for Donna Frye, so if the votes had been counted, Frye probably would have won.

The League of Women Voters had sued to require that all San Diego write-ins be counted, by a California Superior Court Judge had ruled against the League on November 22. League of Women Voters v McPherson, no. 838890. Donna Frye, as a real party in interest in that lawsuit, is free to appeal if she wishes. She has not formally announced whether she will appeal.

Last night, a Libertarian Party nominee won an important county partisan election in Georgia.

Ben Brandon won the run-off election for Dade County Executive. He beat the Republican candidate 1,614 to 845. Brandon received 33% of the vote in the November 2 election for the partisan office. The Republican candidate received 40% and the Democrat received 27%. This is the first time Dade County voters are electing a County Executive, so there is no incumbent. Previously, the post was a hired position.

It was the first time any Libertarian had won a partisan election in that state. It is also the first time any minor party has won any partisan election in Georgia since 1968, when George Wallace’s American Party carried the state in the presidential election. It may even be the first time a minor party has won a partisan election in Georgia (for office other than president) in over 100 years. The Peoples Party was very strong in Georgia in 1898, but odds are no minor party has won a partisan race in Georgia for county office since that year.

The Georgia Libertarian Party candidate for Dade County Executive is in a run-off election Tuesday, November 23.

Ben Brandon received 33% of the vote in the November 2 election for the partisan office. The Republican candidate received 40% and the Democrat received 27%. This is the first time Dade County voters are electing a County Executive, so there is no incumbent. Previously, the post was a hired position.

Brandon is given a good chance of victory in the run-off. He has extensive activity in the community and local business and has received the endorsement of Republican State Representative Brian Joyce, in spite of the fact that Brandon’s opposition is a Republican. Also, it has been reported that local Democratic leaders are urging vote for Brandon.

Today the 2nd circuit affirmed a 2003 decision of a US District Court, and agreed that New York state must let voters register as members of parties that are not qualified parties. Green Party of NY v NY State Bd. of Elections. Now, parties that manage to place a statewide nominee on the ballot will have the right to a list of all voters who register into that group. At the present time, groups that may receive such a list are the Green, Libertarian, Socialist Workers Parties (of course, the qualified parties of New York also have access to such a list; they include the Democratic, Republican, Independence, Conservative and Working Families Parties).

The decision will be useful in a planned lawsuit against Iowa, one of only two states that still will not permit anyone to register into a nonqualified party (the other such state is Kansas). There are also a handful of states that physically permit voters to register into unqualified parties, but refuse to keep a tally of such voters).

Ohio will have a full recount of all Presidential votes, thanks to Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party and David Cobb of the Green Party. The two Presidential candidates raised the required $150,000 fee to order the recount.

Badnarik and Cobb said they aren’t trying to overturn President Bush’s 136,000-vote victory in Ohio, but just want to ensure that all votes were counted properly in the face of concerns about Election Day irregularities.

The actual cost of the recount to county election boards will be about $1.5 million.

In New Hampshire, the Ralph Nader campaign has requested and paid for a hand recount in 11 wards where the results seemed anomalous in their support for President Bush and where the votes were counted on optical scan machines – primarily the Diebold AccuVote Machine.

Retired Imperial County Court Judge refused to halt the vote count in the San Diego mayor’s race, a victory for a maverick city councilwoman who has mounted a surprisingly strong write-in campaign.

The retired Imperial County judge took over the case after all 124 members of the San Diego Superior Court bench were recused because incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy is a former judge. He issued the ruling to a packed courtroom at 3 p.m today.

The decision came as the vote tally showed the race tightening between Councilwoman Donna Frye, a 52-year-old surf shop owner, and Murphy.

Monday’s ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed by Frye’s opponents on the grounds that the election must be a runoff between the top two finishers in the primary — in this case, Murphy and county Supervisor Ron Roberts. The challenge was brought six days after the election.

Jones stopped short of dismissing the lawsuit, but said that Frye’s opponents had waited too long to challenge her campaign. When Frye entered the race five weeks before the Nov. 2 election, there were “no protests, no cries of illegality, no lawsuits.”

Attorney John Howard, who brought the legal challenge, said he planned to appeal. The incumbent mayor has also indicated he plans a legal challenge if the final vote count goes against him.

The registrar’s office released the latest tally at 8 a.m. Monday. The write-in-candidate — presumably Frye — is leading the contest with 151,759 votes, followed by Murphy, who has 149,928 votes.

It’s worth noting, however, that only 146,737 votes have been verified for Frye. An estimated 50,000 absentee and provisional ballots have still not been factored into the final numbers.

The registrar’s office has until the end of the month to certify the election.

Maricopa Superior Court Judge John Buttrick won approval for retention of his seat with 73% of the vote.

Buttrick is a well-known Libertarian Party activist who was appointed to the bench in 2001. This was his first election after his appointment. He had been challenged by several lawyers coming before his as “biased” for his libertarian beliefs. These challenges went all the way to the state Supreme Court but were all defeated.

Butrick ran as the LP candidate for Governor in 1994 and for the state legislature in 1998.

Also, the LP elected at least 20 candidates for a city councils and other offices around the country.

In the latest twist in San Diego’s mayoral race, the entire bench of the San Diego Superior Court removed itself Wednesday from hearing a lawsuit challenging the legality of the election. The case was then assigned to a retired judge from Imperial County who will hold a hearing Monday in the downtown San Diego courthouse.

As vote counts continue to indicate that write-in candidate Donna Frye defeated the incumbent mayor, suits continue to be filed to challenge the legality of the win.

The plaintiffs, who allege violations of the Constitution’s First and 14th amendments, contend Frye’s write-in candidacy is invalid because the City Charter does not allow write-in candidates to run in a general election. They also contend (although this hardly seems like a legal issue) that write-ins illegally siphon off votes from the two ballot candidates. The city charter says that the voters are to choose between the top two candidates nominated at the primary election. There is no provision in the city charter for write-ins, although state law directs that all elections be open to write-in candidates, and even the city’s municipal code explicitly allows write-ins in both primary and general elections. The first suit filed, by local lawyer John Howard, asks the court to direct that the election be held over again.

The judges disqualified themselves because the incumbent mayor had served as a judge for 15 years and was known to the entire court.

Ironically, voters also approved Proposition F, a measure backed by the incumbent, to give the mayor a significant increase in power over the city government.

The Green Party’s David Cobb and Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik jointly announced their intentions to file a formal demand for a statewide recount in Ohio today. The two defeated third-party candidates also called upon Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican who chaired President Bush’s campaign in the Buckeye State, to recuse himself from the recount process. Cobb and Badnarik hope to raise $110,000 to pay for the recall. Earlier today, Ralph Nader, who was forced to wage a write-in campaign in Ohio after his name was stricken from the ballot, also called for a statewide recount in the presidential race. The longtime consumer activist, who is also demanding a recount in New Hampshire, also blasted the Ohio Secretary of State, saying he should resign in disgrace. “When people are standing in line for four or five hours and they are told they’ve got to stand in line for another five hours and they leave because they’ve got to go to work or they got to pick up their child at day care, that’s a constitutional crime,” Nader asserted. Unofficial results in Ohio show Bush leading Democrat John F. Kerry by more than 136,000 votes with more than 155,000 provisional ballots and an undetermined number of absentee ballots yet to be counted.

(from Darcy Richardson)

After the counting of provisional ballots Constitution Party candidate Rick Jore has been declared the winner for Montana House of Representatives with a two-vote margin in a three-way race. The losing candidate may still demand a recount, but must wait until the official canvass is completed on Nov. 22, and within five days after that date. The candidate’s representative has indicated she will demand a recount.

All eyes are on the race, since the outcome will determine control of the state legislature. The state house is now split. If Jore wins, Republicans will control the House. If Jore loses, the House would have a 50-50 split and the newly-elected Democratic Governor would name a House Speaker.

This is the first legislative win ever for the Constitution Party nationwide. He is also the first third party legislator in Montana since 1929. Jore is a former Republican legislator.