Santa Fe, New Mexico, holds non-partisan elections for city office in March 2018. On November 29, a state district court ruled that Santa Fe must use ranked choice voting. See this story. The city election law itself has mandated use of ranked choice voting for some years, but the city has refused to implement it. Thanks to Rob Richie for this news.
On November 29, an NBC/Gen Forward poll was released. The respondents were limited to persons age 18-34. The results are that 71% of persons in that age group believe a new major party is needed; only 26% disagree. Men were slightly more likely to favor a new party than women.
Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
One of the prime Democratic Party targets next year is California’s U.S. House seat in the 48th district. Democrats are so eager to run against incumbent Republican Dana Rohrabacher, there are seven strong Democrats already announced. However, according to this Yahoo News story, there is also a well-funded Republican running, Stelian Onufrei. Rohrabacher is running for re-election. The very last section of the story suggests the possibility that the top-two system will prevent any Democrat from being on the November ballot. This could happen if the Democratic vote is split so many ways that Rohrabacher and Onufrei finish first and second in the primary.
Alabama is holding a special election for U.S. Senate on December 12. On November 27, Alabama’s senior U.S. Senator, Richard Shelby, told reporters he already voted absentee, and he voted for a write-in candidate. See this story.
Wisconsin will hold a special election on January 16, 2018, to fill the vacant State Senate seat, 10th district. Libertarian Brian Corriea is the only candidate who filed for the Libertarian primary, so he is deemed nominated. The identity of the Republican and Democratic nominees will be determined in a special primary for each party being held in December. See this story.
