On December 11, Ohio held a special election to fill the vacant U.S. House seat, 5th district. The vote is Latta, Republican, 56.9%; Weirauch, Democrat, 42.9%. No third choice was on the ballot. A declared write-in candidate, John Green, received .2%.
In November 2006, the vote for this seat had been Republican 56.8%, Democratic 43.2%.
On December 11, Virginia held a special election to fill the empty U.S. House seat, First District. The results are almost exactly what they were in November 2006. Tonight’s results are: Republican Rob Wittman 63%, Democrat Philip Forgit 35%, independent Lucky Narain 2%.
In November 2006 the results had been: Republican 63.0%, Democratic 35.5%, independent 1.4%.
If all goes as planned, the lawsuit challenging the Tennessee ballot access law for new and previously unqualified parties will be filed in federal court on December 21. The law is so restrictive, no third party has been qualified since 1972. Tennessee is one of only two states in which no party (other than the Democrats and Republicans) has been ballot-qualified in the last 25 years, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. The other such state is New Jersey (also, Georgia has only had qualified minor parties for statewide office, not district office).
This lawsuit should have been filed seven months ago, but the attorney who was going to do it became ill, and a new attorney had to be found.
The Illinois legislature returns to its special session on Monday, December 17, which means the National Popular Vote plan, HB 1685, could still pass this year. It has passed both houses but the versions were not the same, so further action is needed.
Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut did not file to be on the New York Democratic presidential primary. 5,000 signatures are required for Democrats in New York. The six Democrats who did file in New York are Biden, Clinton, Edwards, Kucinich, Obama and Richardson.
