According to this story, because of a technicality, South Carolina will not hold a special election for State House, district 114. The November 4 election will fill the seat for the next two years, even though this disenfranchises voters who wish to vote for a Republican. The Republican Party’s only recourse is to find a write-in candidate, but even if the party could settle on someone quickly, he or she would be handicapped by the fact that the original Republican nominee’s name is still on the ballot. But votes cast for him won’t be valid.

According to the story, if the original nominee’s withdrawal letter had included the reason he withdrew, then there could be a special election shortly after the November 2014 election.

On October 15, this blog reported that two billionaires, John Arnold of Texas and Michael Bloomberg of New York, had contributed, together, $2,750,000 toward the campaign to pass Measure 90 in Oregon. Measure 90 would impose a top-two primary in Oregon.

On October 17, Arnold donated another $250,000 to the “yes” campaign, and Bloomberg donated another $400,000, so the total for the two individuals is now $3,400,000. Much of the money was transferred to Canal Partners Media, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and Marietta, Georgia. An additional $50,000 was given to IndependentVoting, also known as CUIP (Commmittee for a Unified Independent Party), formerly known as the New Alliance Party.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin, speaking in his own country, recently criticized the U.S. electoral college. See this Washington Post story. The story quotes him as saying that twice, the person who got the most popular votes failed to take the office. Actually, that has happened four times, in 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.