On May 3, the Working Families Party won a lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Schenectady County, over whether its nominees should be on the ballot. Their nominees were also Democratic nominees. Republicans had challenged the electronic signatures on the candidacy paperwork. See this story.
On May 1, the voters of Austin, Texas, passed Proposition E, providing that in future elections for city office, ranked choice voting will be used. It passed with 58% of the vote. Thanks to Rob Richie for this news. The measure can’t take effect until it is determined that it doesn’t conflict with state law.
KUTV in Salt Lake City, which is a CBS affiliate, seems to be the first general news outlet to have carried a story on the Libertarian Party’s response to the State of the Union Address. See here.
The Libertarian Party is currently circulating petitions for qualified party status in Alabama and Arkansas. Here is a newspaper story about the party’s Arkansas petition drive.
On May 1, Texas held a special election to fill the vacancy in the Sixth District. Texas special elections do not have party nominees. Instead, all candidates file by paying a filing fee and all appear on the same ballot. There were eleven Republicans, ten Democrats, one Libertarian, and one independent. If no one gets 50%, there is a runoff.
Preliminary returns show that the eleven Republicans polled a total of 48,554 votes; the ten Democrats polled 29,204; the independent received 351; the Libertarian received 265. The percentages are: Republican 61.95%; Democrats 37.26%; independent .45%; Libertarian .34%.
No one received a majority. Two Republicans, Susan Wright and Jake Ellzey, placed first and second, so they will be in the runoff.
When this district voted in November 2020, the percentages had been: Republican 52.80%; Democratic 43.98%; Libertarian 3.22%. Here are the unofficial results for all the 23 candidates.
