On January 16, Wisconsin held a special election to fill the vacancy in the State Senate, 10th district, in the northwest part of the state. The State Elections office does not have any returns, but newspapers report these percentages: Democrat Patty Schachtner 55%; Republican Adam Jarchow 44%; Libertarian Brian Corriea 1%.
When this seat was last up, in November 2016, the results were: Republican 63.2%; Democratic 36.8%.
On January 17, the North Carolina Democratic Party filed this final brief in North Carolina Democratic Party v Berger, m.d., 1:17cv-1113. The issue is whether the state violated the U.S. Constitution when it abolished judicial primaries for 2018 only. North Carolina judicial elections are partisan, and party labels appear on the ballot. But with no primaries, there is no state-sanctioned method for any party to choose its nominees.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Gary Johnson v Commission on Presidential Debates, 17-916, at its February 16, 2018 conference. This is the case in which Gary Johnson and Jill Stein argue that the Commission on Presidential Debates is in violation of federal anti-trust laws.
Oklahoma Senator Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle) has introduced SB 1038. It says that if a candidate has family income below the federal poverty level, he or she may get on the ballot with a filing fee that is one-fourth of the normal amount of the filing fee. Alternatively such a candidate can get on the ballot with a petition of one-half of 1% of the registered voters in that jurisdiction. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for the link.
