Although news reports have said the Alabama Secretary of State would tally up the write-in votes cast for U.S. Senate on December 12, 2017, now the office says it will not do that. Instead it will let visitors to the Secretary of State’s web page look at the tally each county provided. But there won’t be official statewide totals for any write-in candidate. Anyone who wants to know how many write-ins any particular candidate received will be obliged to add up the figures provided by each county. Hence any total that anyone compiles won’t be “official.”

Furthermore, some of the county reports are in handwriting, and some of these reports are difficult to read.

The official totals for Doug Jones and Roy Moore will be released on Thursday, December 28.

Daily Kos has this useful page that shows the date of each state’s 2018 primary, and also the date on which primary candidates must file. The chart does not have any information for deadlines for independent candidates or for new parties, or parties that nominate entirely by convention. Thanks to Adam Bonin for the link.

On December 22, the Michigan League of Women Voters, and some voters who prefer to vote for Democrats, filed a federal lawsuit against Michigan’s U.S. House and legislative district boundaries. League of Women Voters of Michigan v Johnson, e.d., 2:2017cv-14148. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.