This Detroit News story explains why five states still don’t have U.S. House redistricting completely settled. The five states are Florida, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, and Ohio.
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Betsy Johnson, an independent candidate for Governor of Oregon, has raised $5,100,000 for her campaign. According to this story, that is more than any other candidate for that office has raised so far. Johnson is a former Democratic State Senator.
Oregon last elected an independent governor in 1930, when Julius Meier won with 54.5% of the vote.
This Charlotte Observer newspaper story explains that North Carolina has severe ballot access petition requirements for independent candidates. It could have mentioned, but didn’t, that North Carolina has never had a statewide independent candidate on a government-printed ballot, except for Ross Perot for president in 1992. It could also have said, but didn’t, that North Carolina has never had an independent candidate on the ballot for U.S. House.
U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe was re-elected to the U.S. Senate from Oklahoma in November 2020. Normally his term would last until January 2027. But on February 28, 2022, he wrote a letter and said he will irrevocably retire from the Senate effective January 2023.
The Governor of Oklahoma then called a special election for his seat, to be held in November 2022. On April 1, an Oklahoma Republican, Stephen Jones, filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that the Seventeenth Amendment does not permit any Governor to call a special election to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate until the vacancy exists. The Seventeenth Amendment says, “When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.” The lawsuit argues that nothing prevents Senator Inhofe from revoking his letter of resignation, so the special election might be a meaningless exercise.
Here is the brief in Jones v Stitt, w.d., 5:22cv-278. Jones argues he has standing as a voter, and he also has standing because he has asked the Governor to appoint him to the vacancy if and when it occurs.
Jones already asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to stop the special election, but that court refused to hear his case. Inhofe’s future actions must have been anticipated by the Oklahoma legislature, because in 2021 it passed an election law bill specifically authorizing special elections in case of either vacancy or irrevocable resignation. Jones argues that the very language of that new law shows he is correct, because it demonstrates that a vacancy and an irrevocable resignation are different things. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the news about the lawsuit.
On March 21, U.S. District Court Judge Jill Otake stayed the proceedings in Borja v Nago, a Hawaii case, 1:20cv-433, until the U.S. Supreme Court issues its opinion in U.S. v Vaello-Madero, 20-303.
Borja v Nago challenges federal law that says U.S. citizens who move from a state, to Guam or the U.S. Virgin Islands, can’t vote absentee in the state in which they formerly lived. By contrast, U.S. citizens who move from a state to a foreign country may continue to vote absentee.
Judge Otake suspended all briefing in the voting rights case until the U.S. Supreme Court issues its opinion in a non-election law case. The issue in U.S. Vaello-Madero is the constitutionality of giving SSI benefits to residents of most U.S. territories, but not to Puerto Rico residents. SSI is federal welfare for the aged and disabled. The U.S. Supreme Court argued that case on November 9, 2021, and has not yet issued its decision.