Alabama has rejected the Constitution Party’s ballot access petition for the special election, State House, 31st district. See this story in the Birmingham News. Because the Republican Party is the only party that qualified a candidate for this election (no independent ran, no Democrat ran, and the Constitution Party failed to get on the ballot) the special election is now cancelled and the Republican nominee is deemed elected.

The Constitution Party expected to get a report of its petition validity before the deadline, but reversing past practice, in this case the Secretary of State refused to check any signatures until the deadline had passed.