On December 2, the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission sued Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in state court. The lawsuit claims not only that the new name of the party is not permitted; it also says that parties can’t change their name. The case is in Maricopa County Superior Court.
The Democratic Party’s law firm, the Elias Law Group, is helping with the commission’s lawsuit.
George Skelton, veteran California politics reporter, has this column discussing the possibility that the top-two system could create a November 2026 ballot with only two Republicans on the ballot, with no write-in space. It is unfortunate that he didn’t suggest that the legislature legalize write-ins.
Tennessee held an election on December 2 to fill the vacancy in the 7th U.S. House district. Here is a link to the Secretary of State’s website, giving the vote tally.
Parties in Nebraska retain their qualified status if they poll 5% for any statewide race at either of the last two elections, or if they have 10,000 registered members.
At the December 1, 2025 tally, the Legal Marijuana Now Party has 10,050 registrants. This is the first tally since the party began at which it has the needed registration. So it is on the ballot indefinitely even if it doesn’t meet the vote test, assuming it keeps its registrants.
The Libertarian Party has a similar status in Nebraska.
Write-in candidates were elected to local public office on November 4, 2025, in Kansas, New York, Virginia, Utah, Pennsylvania, and Washington, and probably other states as well.
This article describes the write-in wins in Virginia. All were for School Board. There were eight write-in candidates elected.
Charleston, Utah, elected Doug Clements Mayor. He received 93 write-ins. The two candidates on the ballot received 92 and 72 votes. See this story.
This story describes how a full slate of write-in candidates were elected in Cato, New York. That covered all five offices that were up.
Also in New York, Yosef Kaufman, a write-in candidate, was elected Trustee of Spring Valley. See this story.
Prescott, Washington, elected a write-in candidate to be Mayor. See this story.
Spring Hill, Kansas, elected a write-in candidate as Mayor. See this story.
Pennsylvania always has write-in winners in local elections, because Pennsylvania has so many obscure offices (including precinct polling place officials) that there are always races with no one who files to be on the ballot. See this story. Also this story.
