California holds a special election for the vacant 51st district State Senate in Los Angeles County on March 24. Six Democrats, one Peace & Freedom Party member, and one Republican are running. Since two of the Democrats are incumbent Assemblymembers, it is extremely likely that no one will get 50% of the vote. In that case, there will be a run-off on May 19 between the Peace and Freedom nominee, Cindy Henderson, and the Democrat who gets the most votes in March, and the lone Republican. The district is overwhelmingly Democratic. The seat is vacant because Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas resigned to become a Los Angeles County Supervisor.

On February 10, the Montana Senate voted on the proposal to amend the State Constitution and require a majority vote before anyone can be elected. The result was a 25-25 tie. Since the bill is a proposed Constitutional amendment, under Montana legislative rules, it now goes to the House even though it didn’t pass the Senate. However, it must pass in the House with a two-thirds vote, so its chances are dim. See this news story, which quotes former Secretary of State Mike Cooney, who is now a State Senator, criticizing both ordinary run-offs and Instant Runoff Voting.

Although the news story says the bill applies to state and local office, it actually also applies to federal office.

Maryland State Senator Richard Colburn (R-Cambridge) has introduced SB 327. It requires run-off general elections, if no candidate received 50%. The bill also requires run-off primaries when no one got 50% in a primary. The run-offs would be held 3 weeks later.