On May 23, Alabama Republican Congressman Jo Bonner said he will resign from Congress on August 15, 2013.  Therefore, the state will hold a special election in the First District soon afterwards.

Bonner was re-elected with no ballot-listed opponent in 2012.  In 2010, his only opponent on the November ballot was Constitution Party nominee David Walter.  Walter polled 16.96% in that two-candidate race.  The Constitution Party is well-organized in the First District and it is plausible the party will now launch a petition drive to get on the ballot for the upcoming special election.  Any unqualified party is free to work on such a petition at any time, without having to wait until it has chosen a candidate.  The petition is a party petition, not a petition that names the nominee.  The nominee is chosen later after the petition succeeds.

On May 17, the Missouri legislature adjourned for the year.  Only two election law bills passed this year.  SB 116 makes it easier for overseas voters to register to vote and easier for them to request an absentee ballot.  The bill lets them use the internet for those purposes.

HB 110 is the other bill that passed.  It provides that if the office of Lieutenant Governor becomes vacant, a special election will be held.  Current law has been interpreted to permit the Governor to appoint a new Lieutenant Governor, although if one reads it literally, gubernatorial appointment seems unauthorized by current law.

Earlier in the year, it appeared likely that the Lieutenant Governor, Peter Kinder, would run in the special congressional election set for June 4, 2013.  He is a Republican and the Governor is a Democrat.  HB 110 was probably motivated by Republican fears that if Kinder did run, and did win, then the Governor would be able to appoint a Democrat to take his place.  As it turned out, Kinder didn’t run for Congress.  Although the bill calls for a special election to fill a vacancy in the Lieutenant Governor’s office, the special election could only be held simultaneously with a regularly-scheduled state election.   Thus it would have no effect unless the vacancy occurred during the first two years of the Lieutenant Governor’s term.

Surprisingly, no bill passed to move the February presidential primary to March.  Thus the Missouri presidential primary continues to be out of compliance with the national rules of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.  Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this information.

On May 15, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Election Laws heard four election law bills.  In Massachusetts, the committee typically takes testimony, and then takes several weeks to decide whether to pass the bills.

The Committee heard testimony on these bills:  (1) H.591, to repeal the National Popular Vote Plan that Massachusetts approved several years ago; (2) S.324, to prohibit electronic vote-counting machines; (3) H.583, to let 17-year-olds vote in city and town elections; (4) H.642, to print “None of the above” on the ballot in all candidate elections.  There would be no consequences of “NOTA” won the election.