Roland, Iowa, held a city election on November 5, 2013, for Mayor and City Council. The election is non-partisan. The incumbent Mayor, Roger Fritz, is a registered Libertarian. He did not want to run for re-election, but no one filed, so the town then prepared to elect a new Mayor by write-in votes. Mayor Fritz asked voters not to cast a write-in vote for him.

Nevertheless, at the election, Fritz received eleven write-ins, and the second-place finisher, David Donahue, got five write-ins. A total of 33 write-ins were cast for names other than Fritz and Donahue. After the votes were counted, Fritz was told by Donahue that Donahue doesn’t want the job. Thereupon, Fritz said he would accept another term. Thanks to Scott Lieberman and Kevin Takenaga for this news.

Every year, the Independent Voter Project sponsors meetings in Hawaii for state legislators from certain states. In the past the event was only for California legislators, but this year legislators from three states are invited. The Independent Voter Project was one of the groups that intervened in various lawsuits that concerning the California top-two system. See this story about this year’s conference. Legislators receive free air travel and free rooms at the hotel, but some legislators who attend pay their own way.