Welcome to the Friday, December 10, Brew.
By: Douglas Kronaizl
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- ‘Tis the season for Ballotpedia’s Holiday Cookie election!
- North Carolina Supreme Court postpones statewide primary to May 17, 2022
- #FridayTrivia: How many wave elections were there in the U.S. House between 1918 and 2016?
‘Tis the season for Ballotpedia’s Holiday Cookie election!
We are stocking up on flour, breaking out the sprinkles, and dusting off the cookie cutters. ‘Tis the season for holiday cookies! Do you have a favorite cookie, maybe one to pair with a cup of cocoa? We will refrain from endorsements because it is once again time to elect this year’s official holiday cookie!
In a departure from the previous two years, a recall petition was filed against our 2020 incumbent, the Sugar Cookie, due to a scandalous incident in which salt was used instead of sugar…and no one likes a salty cookie! The petition was initiated by the Gingerbread Man and Cookie Monster, who collected enough sprinkle signatures to be brought to a vote next week.
Voters will decide two questions: whether Sugar Cookie should be recalled and, if so, which cookie should replace it.
Polls open today at 8am EST. through Friday, Dec. 17, at 5 pm EST.
As Daily Brewsters, we know you strive to be informed voters, so we have gathered the candidate profiles in preparation for the election. Here’s who’s on the ballot:
- Sugar Cookie (incumbent)
- Chocolate chip cookie
- Chocolate peppermint bark cookie
- Gingerbread cookie
- Peanut butter blossom
- Snickerdoodle
North Carolina Supreme Court postpones statewide primary to May 17, 2022
On Dec. 8, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued an order postponing the state’s primary election from March 8, 2022, to May 17, 2022. The change comes as a result of two separate lawsuits challenging North Carolina’s newly-enacted congressional and state legislative district maps developed as part of the state’s redistricting process. Both lawsuits allege gerrymandering and racial gerrymandering, the practice of drawing district lines to favor one group over another.
The cases will now be sent back to the trial court which must reach a ruling on the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims by Jan. 11, 2022.
The supreme court, which currently has a 4-3 Democratic majority, cited “great public interest in the subject matter of these cases, the importance of the issues to the constitutional jurisprudence of this State, and the need for urgency in reaching a final resolution on the merits” as its rationale for ordering the postponement.
North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore (R), a named defendant in both lawsuits, said the order moving the election date “leaves North Carolinians with uncertainty,” adding, “Despite this delay, we are confident that we will prevail at trial and our maps will stand.” Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said the supreme court’s order “restores faith in the rule of law and it is necessary for the Court to rule on the constitutionality of these unfair districts before the next election.”
The postponement applies to all primaries originally scheduled for March 8, 2022, which, before this change, would have been the second-earliest primary election date in the country. The court also suspended the candidate filing deadline for those elections, which had been scheduled to close on Dec. 17, 2021. However, any candidate whose filing has already been accepted will not have to re-file. The court did not set a new candidate filing deadline, instead directing the trial court to issue any necessary orders to account for the changes.
This is the first primary date changed during the 2022 election cycle. In 2020, 20 states postponed at least one federal or state-level election date in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
#FridayTrivia: How many wave elections were there in the U.S. House between 1918 and 2016?
At the beginning of the week, we gave you a primer on Ballotpedia’s wave election study ahead of the 2022 cycle. Our study focused on 50 U.S. House elections held between 1918 and 2016, where we defined a wave election as those where the president’s party loses at least 48 seats.
Based on this definition, between 1918 and 2016, how many wave elections took place in the U.S. House?