This year, there will be no Democrat on the ballot for U.S. Senate in Idaho, Nebraska, and South Dakota. It is possible Montana will be on this list, but that is not yet settled. Eric Ostermeier has this list of instances when either major party has not run a nominee in a U.S. Senate race, in his “Smart Politics” column.
On August 4, Missouri voters overwhelming rejected Amendment Four, which had been placed on the ballot by the legislature. It would have said that initiatives can’t win at the polls unless they pass in each of Missouri’s eight U.S. House districts. Amendment Four only got 19.7% of the vote.
On August 4, the New Jersey Supreme Court accepted the Libertarian Party ballot access case, and agreed to expedite its decision. It will apparently also decide whether the out-of-state circulator ban for general election petitions is constitutional or not. See this story.
On August 4, Washington held its top-two primary. No statewide offices were up. For the ten U.S. House seats, each race produced a Democratic-Republican race in November. In the Tenth District, shama Sawant, an independent socialist and former Seattle city councilmember, placed third. See the results here.
The United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, is a strong supporter of proportional representation. See this article from the Electoral Reform Society.
