On November 7, Georgia held special legislative elections in several districts. In Georgia, special elections do not allow party nominees. Instead, each candidate runs, and if anyone gets 50%, he or she is elected. Otherwise a run-off is held. In the State Senate district 6 race, five Republicans and three Democrats ran. No one got a majority, so there will be a run-off in January 2018. In the November 7, 2017 election, though the total vote for the Republican candidates combined was slightly higher than the total vote for Democrats, two of the Democrats placed first and second, so the run-off will be between two Democrats. Here are the election returns.

The Federal Elections Commission’s excellent reference book, Federal Elections 2016, which has election returns (primary and general) for all federal office, won’t be available until December 2017. Originally the FEC had thought it would be out in November 2017. The book, when it appears, will be free.

Maine supporters of ranked choice voting are conducting a referendum petition drive, to fight last month’s new Maine law that suspends ranked choice voting until 2021. If the supporters obtain approximately 61,000 signatures in the next 80 days, the October 2017 law will be suspended until the voters vote on it in November 2018. If the law is suspended, then Maine will use ranked choice voting in the June 2018 primary.

The first day the petition could circulate happened to be November 7, 2017, which was local election day in Maine. Supporters of ranked choice voting collected signatures at the polls, and obtained approximately 33,000 signatures that day.