Montana SB 279 has become law. It provides that in November 2016, the voters will vote on whether they want to amend the election law, to require a special election for U.S. Senate, when a seat becomes vacant. Current law lets the Governor appoint someone who holds the office until the next regularly-scheduled election.

The legislature could have simply passed an ordinary law making the same change, as was done this year in North Dakota. But apparently the Republican-majority legislature thought the Governor, who is a Democrat, might veto the bill. So they passed the idea as a referendum, which doesn’t need approval by the Governor. It seems overwhelmingly likely that the voters will approve the idea next year.

New York is holding a special election for Assembly, 43rd district, on May 5. The Democratic nominee is not on the ballot because the local party committee failed to file the certificate of nomination for him by the deadline. On April 27, the candidate, Guillermo Philpotts, filed a federal lawsuit to get on the ballot. Philpotts v Board of Elections in the City of New York, e.d., 15-cv-2366. However, on April 28, he lost the case.

The judge, Jack B. Weinstein, wrote, “Never having been nominated, plaintiff is not entitled to appear on the ballot. His Complaint is dismissed.” Philpotts had argued that the Board of Elections had a duty to notify him as soon as it was known that the party had missed the deadline, so that the error could be corrected. The decision does not actually address that argument.

Because no Democrat is on the ballot, and because the Republican Party is very weak in that Brooklyn district, it is expected that the winner will be either the Working Families Party nominee, or the Independence Party nominee.

Utah will not hold a presidential primary in 2016, even though it did so in all years 2000-2012. The Deseret News has this op-ed by Political Science Professor Richard Davis, deploring the lack of a presidential primary.

No one knows yet whether Louisiana will hold presidential primaries in 2016, even though it did so in 2012. It may not be held due to budgetary concerns.