Florida Special Legislative Election Will List Only One Name on Ballot

The April 2015 special election for Florida State House, district 64, will include only one candidate listed on the ballot, running against a write-in candidate. See this story. It is the same candidate who already won the seat in the November 4, 2014 election. His election was determined by the legislature to be void because his primary had been open to all registered voters, even though a write-in candidate had filed to run against him in the general election.

Ninth Circuit En Banc Panel Hears Arguments on Whether Initiative Proponents Can Avoid Having their Names on Petition

On December 16, an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit heard arguments in Chula Vista Citizens for Jobs v Norris, 12-55726. The issue is whether proponents of a local initiative have a privacy right to keep their names off the initiative petition. The proponents formed an organization and the organization is willing to be listed on the petition as the proponent, but state law requires that individuals must be listed as the proponents. See this account of the oral argument.

The original Ninth Circuit panel had struck down the law by a vote of 2-1, but then the government obtained a rehearing en banc.

New Voter Turnout Data for All States, November 2014 Election

On December 16, the United States Election Project revised its turnout data for the November 2014 election. See the data here. Not every state tabulates the number of people who cast a ballot, so the authors created the middle column, based on the number of votes cast for all the candidates for the office that attracted the most votes. The middle column is the best way to compare turnout in all 50 states.