On January 5, Georgia held a special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat, 22nd district. Georgia special elections put party labels on the ballot, but parties don’t have nominees. Individuals file by paying a filing fee, but no petition is needed. Three Democrats and one Libertarian appeared on the ballot.
The results: Democrat Hardie Davis 48.42%; Democrat Harold Jones 39.99%; Libertarian Taylor Bryant 9.14%; Democrat Sandra Scott 2.42%. See the Secretary of State’s election results web page here.
The last time this seat was up, in November 2008, the vote had been: Democratic 79.5%, Republican 20.5%.
OK, my preliminary cursory analysis of this election results: Basically the Lib got The Libertarian Vote. Cato Institute 13%. How much of this was crossover from the left 20%-13%= 7% is difficult to determine. Reps-seeing no rep candidate on ballot stayed away in droves evidently. The election being basically a referendum/primary for the dems. But a large turnout of the libertarian voters did show up at the polls. Their vote went to the Lib instead of the usual going to the rep lesser of 2 evils. This bodes well for further special elections and GOTV. We must try PLAS asap.
TPR, I don’t particularly give a rat’s ass how democratic an election is. I’m looking for a Libertarian OR a Green on the ballot who coordinates BOTH the Libertarian & progressive vote for the win. The sooner the PLAS is proved-or disproved-the better. These off year special elections seemed a good opportunity, that’s all. Shane Bruce, thank you for this info. Please keep us here at IPR informed. Maybe if enough opportunities are pointed out & pissed away, people will finally get with the program.
Well its important that you get a candidate in those races. The more candidates in a race, the more democratic the system is.
Greetings All,
We’re not done in Georgia yet with special elections. There are two more that should occur before the end of March, 2010. There’s another State Senate seat in District 42 (Decatur, GA) that’ll be up for grabs when Bundlin’ Dave Adelman finally gets appointed as US Ambassador to Singapore. That race has one declared democrat, Jason Carter, one rumored democrat and a libertarian candidate waiting in the wings.
There’s also an impending special election over in Georgia House district 19, caused by the resignation of the Speaker of the Georgia House Glenn “Where’s My Pants?” Richardson. No rumors from district 19, but the Georgia LP is looking hard for candidate to field in that heavily republican district.
Of the two, the most promising for third party/independent candidates is district 42. Decatur has been described as “Where Berkley meets Mayberry”, I live there and it is an apt description. I would love to see a Green Party Candidate on the ballot, and as many independents as possible.
At least he wasn’t last.
GOTV = get out the progressive AND libertarian vote. Special elections usually have small turnout. Remember the progressive vote is what won the nomination for Obama.
Well thank you Taylor Bryant for stepping up to the plate. Maybe you will inspire more action in the next special elections. They are the Green in Orange County CA on the 12th. The libertarian Independent in MA on the 19th. & The Libertarian in MO on Feb. 2. If we act quickly, we may still be able to win these. Starting with immediate contributions then activists showing up to help with the campaigns. The candidates are going to have to take some responsibility too. Asking the loyal opposition party for their vote is not easy especially if the party is not helpful. I personally do not take orders from the Green or Libertarian parties. So I am willing to go to MA to help the campaign there. & help the other campaigns as much as I can. Please go to my websites to volunteer and/or donate.
Davis vs. Jones.
Does this mean (not knowing how they do it in SC) that there’s a runoff of Davis v. Bryant?