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Ballot Measures Update

• To date, 108 statewide measures in 33 states have been certified for the 2020 ballot.
  • Thirty-one of the certified measures are citizen-initiated measures. Seventy-six are legislative referrals. One is an automatic constitutional revision commission question.
    • Massachusetts Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative (2020) - This citizen initiative would enact ranked-choice voting (RCV) for primary and general elections for state executive officials, state legislators, congressional and senate seats, and certain county offices beginning in 2022.
    • Massachusetts "Right to Repair" Initiative (2020) - This citizen 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 that vehicle owners and independent repair facilities may access to retrieve mechanical data and run diagnostics through a mobile-based application.
  • Seven statewide measures have been on the ballot so far this year. One more is on the ballot over the summer, and the remaining 100 are on the November ballot.
    • On June 30, voters in Oklahoma approved State Question 802, an initiative to expand Medicaid coverage. The vote was 50.5% to 49.5%.
    • On July 14, Maine voters approved two bond issues:
      • Maine Question 1, High-Speed Internet Infrastructure Bond Issue (July 2020) - $15 million
      • Maine Question 2, Transportation Infrastructure Bond Issue (July 2020) - $105 million
  • Proponents of 16 additional ballot initiatives and veto referendums in Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Oklahoma submitted signatures, which are pending verification by state officials.

Monday, July 13th

California reverses statewide industry reopenings and closes additional industries in another 30 counties

• Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) ordered the following industries and activities to close statewide: indoor operations at all restaurants, wineries, tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos, museums, cardrooms, and all operations at bars. He also ordered 30 counties to close indoor operations for fitness centers, places of worship, non-essential offices, personal care services, hair salons and barbershops, and malls. All 30 counties are on the state’s COVID-19 watchlist.
• California was the first state to issue a stay-at-home order and first began reopening some services in early May. The state began rolling back some reopening permissions on July 1, when Newsom ordered 19 counties on the state’s watchlist to close bars and indoor dining service.

Tuesday, July 14th

• The statewide primary for Maine and primary runoffs inTexas took place on July 14. Candidates competed to advance to the general election scheduled for November 3.
• Texas’s statewide primary was held on March 3. If no candidate received a majority of the votes in the primary, the top two vote-getters advanced to a primary runoff.
• On July 14, candidates ran in elections for the following state legislative offices:
  • Maine House of Representatives (151 seats)
    • Sixteen races remained uncalled as of July 15. Each incumbent who filed to run advanced to the general election in the races that had been called.
  • Maine State Senate (35 seats)
    • Seven races remained uncalled as of July 15. Each incumbent who filed to run advanced to the general election in the races that had been called.
  • Texas House of Representatives (14 seats)
    • Bryan Slaton defeated incumbent Dan Flynn in the District 2 Republican primary runoff.
    • Shelby Slawson defeated incumbent J.D. Sheffield in the District 59 Republican primary runoff.
    • Five races remained uncalled as of July 15.
  • Texas State Senate (2 seats)
    • Roland Gutierrez defeated Xochil Pena Rodriguez in the District 19 Democratic primary runoff.
    • Incumbent Eddie Lucio defeated Sara Stapleton-Barrera in the District 27. Democratic primary runoff.
  • Texas State Senate District 14 special general election (1 seat)
    • The race was too close to call as of July 15.
• For state legislative primaries, Maine uses a ranked-choice voting system in which voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. The candidate who wins a majority of first-preference votes is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. First-preference votes cast for the failed candidate are eliminated, and the second-preference choices on those ballots are then tallied. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.

Delaware state executive and legislative filing deadline passes

• On July 14, the filing period to run for state executive and legislative offices in Delaware ended. Candidates filed for the following state executive offices:
  • Governor
  • Lieutenant Governor
  • Insurance Commissioner
• All three incumbents—Governor John Carney (D), Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long (D), and Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro (D)—filed for re-election.
• Candidates also filed for the following state legislative offices:
  • Delaware State Senate (11 of 21 seats)
  • Delaware House of Representatives (all 41 seats)
• The primary is scheduled for September 15, 2020. Delaware has a Democratic state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers.

Longest-serving member of Alabama House of Representatives dies

• Ronald Johnson (R), who had represented District 33 in the Alabama House since 1978, died of liver cancer. His tenure in the chamber made him the longest-serving legislator in the state House at the time of his death.
• Johnson’s death creates the second vacancy in the chamber this year. The first occurred when April Weaver (R) resigned from the District 49 seat in May to take a position with the Trump administration.
• Vacancies in the Alabama state legislature are filled by special election. The special election for the District 49 seat is scheduled for November 17, 2020. A special election for Johnson’s former seat has not yet been called.

Tenth vacancy occurs in New Hampshire House of Representatives

• The current vacancy count in the New Hampshire House of Representatives this week reached a total of 10 when Rep. Gates Lucas (R) resigned from the chamber, citing a move outside his district as the reason. Lucas announced his resignation on Twitter: “Today I resigned from the @NHHouseofReps given I am moving to Portsmouth. I’m proud of the work we’ve done in the house to uphold @GovChrisSununu’s vetoes and reject many of the radical policies of the left. It’s been an honor serving Sunapee & Croydon!”
• Lucas had represented New Hampshire’s House District Sullivan 2 since 2018. He did not file to run for re-election this year.
• Vacancies in the New Hampshire state legislature are filled by special election, which must be requested by a town or city in the district represented by the vacant seat.

Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York extend list of states covered by quarantine requirement

• Governors Ned Lamont (D-Conn.), Phil Murphy (D-N.J.), and Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) announced that New Mexico, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota had been added to the joint travel advisory originally announced June 24. Travelers from those states will need to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arriving in the tristate area.
• Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) announced that he was extending the quarantine requirement for out-of-state travelers through September 1. Previously, Ige had said a new program would take effect August 1 that would allow visitors to avoid the quarantine requirement by presenting a negative coronavirus test.
• On July 12, the Pennsylvania Department of Health added Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma to its quarantine list. Visitors from those states are recommended to self-quarantine for 14 days upon entering Pennsylvania. The Department of Health removed Delaware from the list on July 15.

Wednesday, July 15th

Oklahoma governor tests positive for coronavirus

• Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) announced that he tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Stitt, who assumed office in 2019, is the first governor known to have tested positive for the virus.
• Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), who represents Virginia’s 9th Congressional District, announced on July 14 that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
• Chicago City Councilmember Carrie Austin, who represents Ward 34, announced on July 13 that she tested positive for coronavirus.
• Pennsylvania State Senator Anthony Williams (D), who represents District 8, announced on July 14 that he tested positive for the coronavirus.

Friday, July 17th

Seven states release school reopening guidance

• Seven states—Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, and New York—released guidance for reopening schools for the 2020-2021 school year. Individual school districts will use the guidance to craft their own individual reopening plans.
• So far, seven states (Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, and Wyoming) have reopened their campuses for students and staff. Thirteen states have released reopening guidance and also announced a scheduled reopening. One state has announced schools will reopen in the fall but have not released reopening guidance. Officials in 17 other states have released guidance for reopening schools to in-person instruction, but have not indicated when or whether they plan to do so.

• Forty-eight state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 25 states so far this year, with 36 seats having taken place already. Heading into those races, Democrats had previously controlled 14 of the seats, while Republicans previously controlled 22. One seat flipped from Democratic control to Republican control, and five seats flipped from Republican control to Democratic control.
  • In special elections between 2011 and 2019, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of four seats nationally each year.
  • An average of 56 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five even years (2010: 30, 2012: 46, 2014: 40, 2016: 66, 2018: 99).
  • An average of 88 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five odd years (2011: 95, 2013: 84, 2015: 88, 2017: 98, 2019: 77).
• Upcoming special elections include:
  • August 4
    • Alabama House of Representatives District 49 (primary)
    • Michigan House of Representatives District 4 (primary)
    • Washington State Senate District 38 (primary)
  • August 11
    • Georgia State Senate District 4 (general election runoff)
    • South Carolina House of Representatives District 115 (primary)
  • August 18
    • Alaska State Senate District M (primary)
    • Florida State Senate District 20 (primary)

Friday, July 24th

State executive candidate filing period to end in Louisiana

• The filing deadline to run for elected office in Louisiana is on July 24. Prospective candidates may file for two of the five seats on the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
• The primary is scheduled for November 3, and the general election, if needed, is scheduled for December 5, 2020.
  • Louisiana does not conduct true primary elections. Instead, all candidates running for a local, state, or federal office appear on the same ballot regardless of their partisan affiliations. A candidate who wins a simple majority of all votes cast for the office (i.e., 50 percent, plus one vote) wins the election outright. If no candidate meets that threshold, the top two finishers, regardless of their partisan affiliations, advance to a second election. In that election, the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes wins.
• Louisiana has a divided government, and no political party holds a state government trifecta. A state government trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers.
• Louisiana’s statewide filing deadline is the last to take place in the 2020 election cycle.

States in Session

Seven states—California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island—are in regular session.

In 2020, Ballotpedia is providing comprehensive coverage of elections in America's 100 largest cities by population. This encompasses every office on the ballot in these cities, including their municipal elections, trial court elections, school board elections, and local ballot measures. Ballotpedia is also covering all local recall elections as well as all local ballot measures in California.

• 2020
  • July 11 - Louisiana -- Voters in East Baton Rouge Parish approved a special property tax renewal to fund the law enforcement district on July 11, 2020.
  • July 14 - Texas -- Voters in Fort Worth approved a measure to continue the Fort Worth Crime Control and Prevention District and renew its special 0.5% sales tax for 10 years.

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