On August 8, Alabama officials said two special legislative primaries will be held on October 8, to fill the vacant State House seats in the 74th district (Montgomery) and 104th district (Mobile). Astonishingly, the deadline for independent candidates and newly-qualifying parties for these special elections will be August 20. The law requires petitions of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote.

The special elections themselves will not be until December 3 (if no run-off primary is needed) or not until January 14, 2014 (if run-off primaries will be needed, which is likely). See this story. Alabama petition deadlines for independent and minor party candidates are usually the same day as the primary, so the schedule seems not only contrary to the statutory law, but contrary to legal precedents that require states to either reduce the number of signatures in special elections (because there is less time to collect the signatures) or give more time.

The Constitution Party intends to enter the 104th district race, and is very likely to sue to overturn the ballot access requirements for these two special elections.

Louisiana will hold a special election for U.S. House, Fifth district, on October 19. Candidates must qualify by paying a filing fee sometime between August 19 and August 21. The vacancy is due to the resignation of Congressman Rodney Alexander. The district is physically large and includes virtually all of northeast Louisiana.

In November 2012, the vote in this district was: Alexander, Republican, 202,536; independent candidate Ron Ceasar, 37,486; Libertarian Clay Grant, 20,194. Thanks to Randall Hayes for this news.

On August 7, the Colorado Libertarian Party, and a Democratic candidate, and a Libertarian candidate, jointly filed a lawsuit in state court to require the state to give more time for petitions, to get on the ballot in the September 10 recall elections. Colorado is holding recall elections on that date for State Senate district 3 (centered in Pueblo) and State Senate district 3 (Colorado Springs).

Colorado recalls work like California recalls. First the ballot asks the voter to decide whether to recall the office-holder. Below that, the ballot asks voters to vote for a new office-holder, in case the recall succeeds. To get on this part of the ballot, all candidates (including the individuals subject to the recall election) need 1,000 signatures. The State Constitution says such petitions are due 15 days before the election, but the Secretary of State is instead following a statute that contradicts the Constitution, and says the petitions are due 10 days after the Governor sets the date of the recall petition. Thus the petitions are due either on August 31 or on July 29, a significant difference.

The case is Libertarian Party of Colorado v Gessler, Denver district court, 13cv-33491. If the lawsuit does not succeed, the only candidates on the recall ballot in each district will be one Democrat (in each case, the office-holder subject to the recall) and one Republican. However, write-ins are allowed. The two Senators being recalled are Angela Giron in the Third District, and John Morse in the Eleventh District. Here is the complaint. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.