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Ballotpedia’s federal judicial vacancy count determined there were 53 open federal judgeships on Dec. 1

Earlier this month, Ballotpedia released our monthly federal judicial vacancy count, which found that as of Dec. 1, there were 53 vacancies out of 870 active Article III judicial positions, a total vacancy percentage of 6%. Three of those vacancies were on the U.S. Courts of Appeals, 49 were on U.S. District Courts, and one was on the U.S. Court of International Trade.

With Joe Biden (D) projected to become president on Jan. 20, we wanted to take a look at the number of federal judicial vacancies he may inherit on Inauguration Day. There are currently 51 vacant federal judgeships. The number of vacancies on Jan. 20 will be dictated by the pace of confirmations in the U.S. Senate and the number of new vacancies.

While we don’t know how many existing nominees will be confirmed before President Trump (R) leaves office, there are currently four Article III nominees awaiting a Senate confirmation vote, four waiting for a Senate committee vote, and 20 waiting for a committee hearing as of Dec. 8. Two judges are expected to assume senior status on Jan. 22 and 23. Thus, it is likely that President-elect Biden will inherit somewhere between 23 and 53 judicial vacancies when he assumes office. The midpoint of this range—38—would be the fifth-fewest of the last seven presidencies.

Trump inherited 108 federal judicial vacancies on Jan. 20, 2017.

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First signature deadline for 2021 ballot measures is Dec. 25

Although we’re continuing to review 2020 election results here in the Brew, work on elections in 2021 and 2022 are already underway. For example, the signature deadline for indirect state statutes in Ohio is Dec. 25 and for Initiatives to the Legislature in Washington is Dec. 31.

Four of the 26 states with a process for citizen-initiated measures—Colorado, Maine, Ohio, and Washington—allow for ballot initiatives or veto referendums in odd-numbered years. The chart below displays the signature deadlines and requirements in each of those states in 2021:

Deadlines

In Ohio, initiated statutes begin as indirect initiatives and require 132,887 signatures in 2021 to go before the Ohio State Legislature. For an ITL to be taken up by the Washington legislature and potentially be put on the ballot in 2021, proponents must submit 259,622 valid signatures to the secretary of state. In both states, the legislature has the option to approve the initiative without it making it to the ballot.

Legislatively referred measures can also be referred to the ballot in these states in 2021. Other states that frequently feature statewide measures referred to the ballot by the legislature in odd-numbered years include Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.

An average of 31 measures appeared on state ballots during odd-numbered years between 2009 and 2019. An average of 165 measures appeared on state ballots during even-numbered years between 2010 and 2020. There were 27 total statewide measures certified for the ballot in 2017 and 28 in 2015.

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Local Roundup

When one election season closes, another one begins. Stay tuned for some detailed information about the 2021 municipal election calendar. Before then, here’s a summary of 2020’s mayoral elections.

Twenty-nine mayoral elections were held in the nation’s 100 largest cities this year. The partisan breakdown of those 29 mayors was as follows

Democratic: 12
Republican: 15
Independent: 1
Nonpartisan: 1

Of the 27 elections completed as of Dec. 9, five party changes have taken place, with Republicans losing three offices and Democrats losing two. Democrats and independents each picked up two offices, and Republicans picked up one.

The five cities where a change in the mayor's partisan affiliation occurred were:

Scottsdale, Arizona: Republican to independent
Irvine, California: Republican to Democratic
San Diego, California: Republican to Democratic
Stockton, California: Democratic to Republican
Honolulu, Hawaii: Democratic to independent

Among the 100 largest cities in the U.S., the most-recently-held mayoral election was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Dec. 5. Incumbent Sharon Weston Broome (D) defeated Steve Carter (R) in the city’s general election, 56.5% to 43.5%. Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. Broome had received 48% in the first round of voting on Nov. 3.

The year’s final two mayoral elections—in El Paso and Corpus Christi—will be decided in runoff elections later this month.

Mayoral election in El Paso, Texas (2020)

Incumbent Donald Margo and Oscar Leeser are meeting in the city's mayoral runoff election on Dec. 12. Leeser received 42.5%, and Margo received 24.7% of the vote in the general election Nov. 3. Margo was first elected mayor in 2017. Leeser was the mayor of El Paso from 2013 to 2017 and did not run for re-election in 2017.

Although El Paso municipal elections are officially nonpartisan, Margo was previously a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives. Leeser was identified as a Democrat by KVIA-TV.

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Mayoral election in Corpus Christi, Texas (2020)

Joe McComb and Paulette Guajardo are facing off in Corpus Christi's mayoral runoff election on Dec. 15. McComb and Guajardo received 33.0% and 32.2% in the nine-candidate general election Nov. 3. McComb was first elected mayor in 2016, and Guajardo is an at-large member of the Corpus Christi City Council.

Although mayoral elections in Corpus Christi are officially nonpartisan, McComb has been identified by the Nueces County Republican Party as a member of the Republican Party.

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