Category: State
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Delaware primary review: less than 25% of offices up in November appeared on primary ballot
Delaware held its statewide primary on September 15, 2020. Candidates competed to advance to the general election scheduled for November 3. In Delaware, unopposed primary candidates automatically advance to the general election. Consequently, only 13 state-level offices were on the primary ballot even though 55 seats are up for election in 2020. There were 15…
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Delaware holds congressional primaries
Delaware held its statewide primary election on September 15. Races for two congressional seats were on the ballot—one for a U.S. Senate seat and one for Delaware’s at-large U.S. House seat. Both incumbents filed for re-election and won their respective primaries, advancing to the general election on November 3. In the race for Delaware’s Class…
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Support and opposition committees for Massachusetts Question 1 (“Right to Repair Law” initiative) reported $34.8 million in combined contributions
Updated on Sept. 19, 2020 Massachusetts voters will decide Question 1 on Nov. 3. The initiative would require manufacturers that sell vehicles with telematics systems in Massachusetts to equip them with a standardized open data platform beginning with model year 2022. The platform would need to allow vehicle owners and independent repair facilities may access…
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Where electoral systems are on the ballot in 2020
Voters in five states will decide ballot measures related to electoral systems on November 3, 2020. Policies that are on the ballot include ranked-choice voting, top-two and top-four primaries, the national popular vote interstate compact, and runoff elections. Most (4 of 5) of the ballot measures came through the citizen-initiated petition process. In Colorado,…
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Florida governor appoints Grosshans to state supreme court
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) appointed Jamie Grosshans to the Florida Supreme Court on September 14, 2020. She was appointed to succeed Justice Robert Luck, who was elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in November 2019. Grosshans will join two other DeSantis nominees on the seven-member court. The governor had originally…
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Death of Massachusetts chief justice creates second vacancy on state supreme court
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants died while in office on September 14, 2020, causing a second vacancy in the state’s court of last resort. The other vacancy will occur on December 1, 2020, when Supreme Judicial Court Justice Barbara Lenk is scheduled to retire from the court, one day prior to…
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Arizona judge declines to rule on constitutional challenge to agency adjudication process
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Douglas Gerlach on September 9 upheld a decision by then-Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) Director Gregory McKay in a case challenging the constitutionality of the procedural due process protections available to individuals during the agency’s adjudication of child abuse allegations. McKay placed Phillip B. (the only name provided) on the child abuse registry…
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Three Maryland Court of Appeals justices seek retention in November
Maryland Court of Appeals Justices Brynja McDivitt Booth, Jonathan Biran, and Mary Ellen Barbera are all seeking retention on November 3, 2020. Booth and Biran were appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) while Barbera was appointed by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D). Currently, three of the seven justices on the court were appointed by a Democratic…
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State legislative special elections to be held in Mississippi
Special elections are being held on September 22 for two districts in the Mississippi State Senate and two districts in the Mississippi House of Representatives. Runoff elections will be held for each race if no candidate earns more than 50% of the vote in the general election. Candidates in Mississippi state legislative special elections run…
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Ballotpedia study shows that 29 state APAs require administrative agencies to accept oral evidence during adjudicative hearings
A Ballotpedia study of all 50 state constitutions and administrative procedure acts (APAs) showed that 29 state APAs require administrative agencies to accept oral evidence during adjudicative hearings, as of August 2020. Administrative agencies in those states hear oral testimony during hearings like a state court. Adjudication proceedings include agency determinations outside of the rulemaking…