Category: State

  • Runoff election in Mississippi House district to be held Nov. 24

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    A special general runoff election will be held on November 24 for District 87 in the Mississippi House of Representatives. The special general election took place on November 3, with the top two candidates advancing to the runoff. Candidates in Mississippi state legislative special elections run without party labels on the ballot. Matthew Conoly and…

  • Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder wins re-election

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    Incumbent Larry Householder (R) defeated four write-in candidates—Marci McCaulay (D), Jay Conrad (R), Robert Leist (L), and Kaitlyn Clark (I)—in the general election for Ohio’s House of Representatives District 72. Householder ran unopposed in the April 28 Republican primary. On July 21, 2020, after the filing deadline for additional candidates to appear on the ballot,…

  • Ballotpedia publishes state court partisanship study

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    Each state has at least one supreme court, or court of last resort. Oklahoma and Texas each have two such courts, one for civil appeals and one for criminal appeals. Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship—a culmination of eight months of research and compilation of raw data—supplies Partisan Confidence Scores for 341 active state supreme court justices on all…

  • New York Court of Appeals Justice Eugene Fahey announces retirement

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    On November 10, 2020, State of New York Court of Appeals Justice Eugene Fahey announced his retirement from the court, scheduled for December 31, 2021, when he reaches the court’s mandatory retirement age of 70 years old. Justice Fahey joined the State of New York Court of Appeals in 2015. He was appointed to the…

  • California governor confirms Jenkins to state supreme court

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    The California State Commission on Judicial Appointments confirmed Martin Jenkins to the California Supreme Court on November 10, 2020. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) appointed Jenkins on October 5. Jenkins succeeds Justice Ming Chin, who retired on August 31. Jenkins is Newsom’s first appointee to the seven-member supreme court. Under California law, state supreme court justices…

  • Wiley defeats Khanin in special election for Virginia House of Delegates District 29

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    A special general election was held for Virginia House of Delegates District 29 on November 3, 2020. Bill Wiley (R) defeated Irina Khanin (D), earning 63.7% of the vote to Khanin’s 36.2%.  The special election was called after Chris Collins (R) resigned on June 28, 2020, to serve on the Virginia 26th Judicial District Court.…

  • Ballotpedia study shows that 25 state APAs and constitutions specify qualifications for administrative agency leaders

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    Banner with the words "The Administrative State Project"

    A Ballotpedia survey of all 50 state constitutions and administrative procedure acts (APAs) revealed that 25 state APAs and constitutions specify qualifications for administrative agency leaders and the other half of the states do not specify any required qualifications as of November 2020.  Administrative agency leaders are those who direct the activities of state agencies.…

  • Signatures due Friday in Colorado governor recall effort

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    Supporters of the effort to recall Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) have until November 13 to submit 631,266 signatures to require a recall election. The recall was approved for circulation by Colorado’s secretary of state on September 14. The recall effort is being organized by Lori Ann Cutunilli and Greg Merschel. Last year, Merschel was…

  • Two Alabama state legislative special elections on the ballot Nov. 17

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    Special elections for two seats in the Alabama State Legislature are on the ballot on November 17, 2020. In District 26 of the state Senate, six candidates are competing in a special Democratic primary to advance to the special general election on March 2, 2021. The Republican nominee, William Green, was the only candidate to…

  • Arkansas Supreme Court clarifies deference prohibition

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    Image of Arkansas State Supreme Court building

    The Arkansas Supreme Court on October 29 clarified in American Honda Motor Co. v. Walther that state courts should not exercise deference to state agency interpretations of statutes. Instead, the court held that Arkansas state courts should review agency statutory interpretations de novo—without deference to a previous interpretation of the underlying statute in question. The court’s decision…