Washington, D.C., is holding a special election for council-at-large on April 23. Because this is a special election, parties don’t have nominees. All individuals who wish to appear on the ballot must submit a petition with at least 3,000 names. Although 20 candidates took out petition forms, only eight submitted the petition by the due date on January 23. See this story. Assuming all eight remain on the ballot, voters will choose one of them, with no run-off.

Six are Democrats, one is a Republican, one is a Green. The Green is Perry Redd. The Republican is Patrick Mara. The Democrats are Anita Bonds, Michael A. Brown, Matthew Frumin, John Settles, Elissa Silverman, and Paul Zukerberg.

New Mexico Senator Michael Sanchez (D-Belen), the Senate Majority Leader, has introduced SB 276, which restores the straight-ticket device. The bill says that only parties that have at least two statewide nominees would be entitled to the device. No party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, has had at least two statewide nominees on the ballot since 2002, when the Green Party was on for Governor-Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General.

Hawaii State Senator Les Ihara has introduced SB 223, to permit write-in voting in all Hawaii elections, primaries and general elections alike. Senator Ihara has been in the State Senate since 1994, and has introduced similar bills many times in the past. He is Majority Policy Leader in the State Senate.

Hawaii has never permitted write-in voting. The preamble to SB 223 points out that in 2012, as in many past elections, Hawaii has had the lowest voter turnout of any state.