independentsforkerry.org

The state election office made a historic mess of Tennessee’s Presidential Primary — with mistakes that robbed a former U.S. Congressman and his wife of their right to vote and denied voters access to the polls.

Secretary of State Tre Hargett and State Election Coordinator Mark Goins are in charge of the government office [...]
TNDP News

Audrey Clement is a co-chair of the Green Party (US) Steering Committee and a tireless petitioner – she has traveled around the country gathering signatures to get the Green Party on the ballot in states such as Arkansas, Virginia, and Maryland among others. She herself ran for County Board in Arliington, Virginia last fall. Now [...]
Green Party Watch

A week ago, the Libertarian Party posted a table over at their website citing what is the most comprehensive election results list one could find anywhere. The list includes everything from runs for Mayor of a large city to Selectman of a small town.

Make sure to read the table at the bottom of the page in order to better understand the results of the table.

Independent Political Report

2011 Green Party Election Wrap-up by the numbers
by Brent McMillan
104 green party candidates ran for election in 2011. By comparison 150 green party candidates ran for election in 2007, 277 green party candidates ran for election in 2003 and 96 green party candidates ran for election in 1999 (the year prior to the presidential election).
More [...]
Green Party Watch

In Spain’s recent general election, which was marked by a victory for the conservative People’s Party, Spain’s young Green party (EQUO) doubled its vote from the previous election. From the European Green Party:
Votes for Green parties doubled in when compared to the last parliamentary election three years ago in Spain; however the absolute [...]
Green Party Watch

Arizona voters, polled after last week’s election, said they voted to recall Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce because of his divisiveness and because they want Arizona’s legislature to focus more on the economy and job creation and less on immigration.

“Our research clearly shows that Arizona voters want their politicians to work together to focus on practical solutions for improving the state’s economy,” said Jill Hanauer, President of Project New West, which conducted the poll. “Russell Pearce’s decision to focus on extremist immigration policies played a role in his defeat, and could do so for more Arizona Republicans if they continue to ignore the priorities of voters.”

Among voters who did not support Pearce, 38 percent cited either his divisiveness, fanaticism, rigid ideology, or issue platforms. Another 21 percent specifically named Pearce’s position on immigration, his piloting of SB1070, his destruction of Latino relations or his outright dislike of Hispanics.

White voters basically split evenly between Pearce and winner Jerry Lewis, but Lewis won the Hispanic vote by a large margin. Pearce won the Mormon vote, but Mormons were seen as a key constituency of Lewis, who is also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. While Lewis lost that key demographic, that he did as well as he did was a huge factor in the election.

“LDS voters in SD-18 sent a clear message that character matters to them,” said Hanauer. “These results are consistent with past surveys we’ve conducted that show values are extremely important to the the LDS community, and Mormons are willing to vote against an established member of their community if they view them as morally flawed.”

DeeDee Garcia-Blase, who was recently president of Somos Republicans, was one of the lead organizers of the recall. She recently announced that he had left the Republican Party to become an independent and to found the National Tequila Party, a non-partisan group dedicated to increasing Latino voting in the United States, among other things.

From a column she recently published on Huffington Post:

I am an immigration advocate.

I left the Republican Party because I felt betrayed with their continued inaction on legal immigration reform and was tired of the attacks from the far right in which Conservative websites falsely accused me of being for open borders. I have also been called a “RINO” or “Republican in Name Only” due to my strong pro immigrant views. For the record: I do think it is important to document and know who is coming in and out of our country. I’m a veteran and know and understand the importance of our national security.

“Republicans won’t touch immigration,” she told the Colorado Independent. “My hands were tied in the Republican Party. I was being attacked right and left in the Republican Party.”

As a non-partisan organization, she said the Tequila Party, of which she is co-chair, is open to people of all political persuasions. She said the group has about 3000 members so far, with more Democrats than Republicans.

Looking at the presidential race, she said she didn’t think Mitt Romney would be able to garner significant Hispanic support, but that Perry might be able to, if he can reignite his faltering campaign.

The Colorado Independent

INDEPENDENT MOVEMENT
America Needs a Makeover (The Daily Beast, By Tony Dokoupil, MSNBC/PowerWall)  Interview with Tom Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum:

TF: Right now it’s like the public is having an economic crisis and the politicians are having an election. There’s almost no overlap between the two groups. It’s like they’re in a circle and we’re in a circle. What that tells you is that the incentives—financial and political—don’t correspond to the themes of the country.

Which is why you say the system needs a shock, perhaps from an independent third candidate.

MM: It’s not going to correct itself with its own routine procedure. We think an independent candidate probably would not win, but would reveal the existence of a large constituency up for grabs between the Republicans and Democrats, and that would create incentives for each party to try to co-opt those voters by adopting some of those programs.

The Hankster

A Socialvibe study shows social media will play a vital role in determining the 2012 election. With a 94% participation rate for engagement on political advertising campaigns the Socialvibe study shows that Facebook friends, not the evening news or TV advertisements, will inform most voters.

The SocialVibe study (PDF) finds people are more likely to share interesting news articles, videos or online petitions with one-another via Facebook or email than they are to watch the nightly news.

More than ever before, voters expect to be given an opportunity to express themselves and interact with information by sharing with friends, posting to Facebook, tweeting and commenting on posts.Candidates must effectively engage the social sphere from the outset to remain competitive in this election cycle.

The E-voter Institute reports in its 2010 survey of voter expectations that more than 40 percent of voters expect to be able to find information on demand about campaigns, including online video and social networking. The vast majority of voters expect that all campaigns will have at least a basic website.

But that’s just the ante to get into the game. No online presence would be complete without a robust social strategy. Voters of all ages and persuasions are increasingly turning to social media for information about issues and candidates.

According to a January 2011 report from the Pew Internet American Life Project, Republicans and Democrats used social media to gather or share political information at roughly equal rates in the 2010 midterm election cycle. According to a May 2011 study conducted by digital agency SocialVibe, 94 percent of social media users of voting age engaged by a political message watched the entire message, and 39 percent of these people went on to share it with an average of 130 friends online.

As reported by the Christian Science Monitor, this trend reflects a major shift from the 2008 presidential election cycle, in which only 29 percent of McCain voters were active users of social networking sites compared to 44 percent of Obama supporters.

According to a May 2011 study conducted by digital agency SocialVibe, 94 percent of social media users of voting age engaged by a political message read or watched the entire text or video message, and 39 percent of these people went on to share it with an average of 130 friends online. The deep attention and loyalty that results from viral message sharing is why brands such as Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble, Coke, Disney, and others are shifting their advertising dollars from television to social media. Every major television network has turned to social media to advertise their own TV shows and connect with their audience.

As of May 2011, 71% of online adults reported watching videos on a social video-sharing site such as YouTube or Vimeo, according to a Pew Research Center video-sharing study. That represents a five-percentage-point increase from the 66% of online adults who reported being video-sharing site users a year earlier and a 38-point increase from five years ago when the Pew Internet Project took its first reading on use of such sites.

The Pew study further found that non-white adult internet users have higher rates of video-sharing site use than their white counterparts, a consistent finding since 2006.

Overall, 69% of white internet users said they had visited video-sharing sites, 13 points higher than in April 2009, and more than double the 31% reported when the question was first asked in December 2006.

At the same time, 79% of online non-whites — African-Americans, Hispanics and others — reported using video-sharing sites. That figure is 12 points higher than April 2009, and 41 points higher than in 2006.

Then there is Pew’s study from this past winter that reports an ongoing trend of more and more people getting their news from a variety of Internet sources rather than newspapers or TV.

In 2010, for the first time, the internet surpassed television as the main source of national and international news for people younger than 30. (See graph)

The most significant challenge in this arena is presenting information to political supporters in a manner that motivates them to share campaign information with others. As noted by the E-Voter Institute, “When people are inclined to forward email and links, campaigns need to be more creative in messaging so as to tap into that desire to share compelling content and ideas.”11 Voters and supporters are actively engaged in social networking of all stripes – the challenge is for campaigns to translate that energy into increased sharing on social networking sites.

As the 2012 elections approach, social media engagement has become a key tenet that must be built directly into every campaign strategy. Campaigns hoping to lead in 2012 need to look to proven social methods to reach, engage, and motivate supporters with messaging that is true to their brand and ignites conversation among key influencers.

The more adept campaigns become at engaging social media users, the further their message will travel virally through personal contacts. If campaigns motivate supporters to express themselves while socially interacting with campaign information, they will be rewarded with an empowered army of informal spokespeople advocating on their behalf. Candidates and campaigns up and down the ballot must plan to make outreach efforts more social this election season. Here are five key areas to focus on:

1. Use Facebook, video-sharing and Campaign Websites to Engage Supporters – For campaigns to make the most of their investment in an online presence, they must provide opportunities for engagement.
2. Make Your Social Presence a Conversation – A robust social networking strategy will allow campaigns to engage supporters in sharing and to monitor opposition messages.
3. Go Mobile – Roughly equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans use mobile technology to share information about political issues. QR codes, mobile use of social networking, and mobile advertising will all play an important role in 2012.1
4. Make E-mails Social – The technological savvy of many voters is still limited to email. And according to the Nielsen Company, active users of social media tend to spend more time using email than others.2 Social media-enhanced email is cost-effective and allows supporters to forward information in their own time.
5. Build Allegiance through Engagement Web Advertising – Engagement advertising enhances consumer loyalty by combining campaign content with word-of-mouth commentary from friends and associates. Engagement advertising creates a value-exchange that invites participants to share professionally produced video messages with others and allows advertisers to target ads within Facebook based on whatever criteria they choose.

A field study by leading social media technology company SocialVibe showed that the level of sharing in a politically-themed engagement advertising campaign was double the average share rates of non-political ad campaigns.

More @ DailyKos: “New” Media and the 2012 Campaign

Democratic Blog – News

Three Independents (“No Party Preference”), one Libertarian, and one Peace & Freedom Party candidate ran in the special election to succeed Jane Harman in the 36th congressional district. The California Secretary of State‘s office provides results:

The five bolded candidates were the non-major party candidates. Only Libertarian Steve Collett, who ran a cable ad campaign, cracked 1%.

Independent Political Report

In an series of posts at his Facebook page last night Chris Alders has been reporting on Green Party victories in England. Here are the results:
Breaking News: English city council elections’ vote count underway. Green Party incumbents John Coyne (Liverpool) and Jillian Creasy (Sheffield) have won re-election!
Breaking News: Green Party candidate Jo Henderson wins [...]
Green Party Watch