Because most states had unusually low turnout in the November 2014 election, and because most states that have the initiative process base the requirement on the number of votes cast in the last election, it seems that the number of signatures to qualify initiatives for the ballot in 2016 will be markedly easier than in the recent past. Thanks to Jill Pyeatt for this thought.
The Post & Courier, daily newspaper for Charleston, South Carolina, says in this editorial that the legislature should repeal the straight-ticket device. Thanks to Dave Gillespie for the link.
Charles T. Munger, Jr., through his PAC, spent more heavily in California’s November 2014 State Senate election than in any other general election contest this year. During the year he spent $663,000 to elect former Assemblymember Bonnie Garcia, a Republican, to the open State Senate seat, district 28, in Riverside County. She was running against another Republican, County Supervisor Jeff Stone.
Stone defeated Garcia, even though Stone was badly outspent and even though former Republican Governor Pete Wilson endorsed Garcia. Stone is clearly more conservative than Garcia, and during a debate, Stone said he admires Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s methods for dealing with inmates.
A PAC controlled mostly by John Arnold, a Texas billionaire, spent $800,000 to defeat California Congressman Mike Honda, a Democrat who was running against another Democrat, Ro Khanna. This Santa Clara County district, the 17th, nevertheless re-elected Honda, who is considered more liberal than Khanna.
Only three minor party members were on the California November 2014 ballot for partisan office. In each case, only one person had filed in the primary, and the three minor party members had then each filed to be a write-in candidate in the June primary. As the only candidates running in June against the single ballot-listed candidate, the three declared write-in candidates obviously placed second, and qualified for November.
In U.S. House district 44, in western Los Angeles County, Peace & Freedom candidate Adam Shbeita polled 13.0% against incumbent Democrat Janice Hahn.
In Assembly district 5, in the Sierra Nevada mountains east of the San Joaquin Valley, Libertarian Patrick Hogan polled 25.2% against incumbent Republican Frank Bigelow.
In Assembly district 79, in San Diego County, American Independent Party member George R. Williams polled 38.7% against incumbent Democrat Shirley Weber. This is the largest percentage of the vote any AIP member has ever received for a partisan office in a California general election.
Louisiana has a mandatory retirement age for state judges; they can’t serve after they attain age 70. Voters defeated a measure to repeal that law on November 4. At the same time, voters in Orleans Parish re-elected Criminal Court Judge Frank Marullo, who is age 74. See this story.
State measure five, which would have repealed the retirement age, lost 42%-58%.
