Everything you need to know about ranked-choice voting in one spot. Click to learn more!

State Legislative Tracker: Former state senator disqualified from ballot in Louisiana

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search

BP-Initials-UPDATED.png This article may not adhere to Ballotpedia’s current neutrality policies.


SLP badge.png

Donate.png

September 21, 2015

Edited by Jackie Beran

This week’s tracker includes a look at a challenge to a former state senator's candidacy in Louisiana and the passing of the state budget in North Carolina.

Weekly highlight

Former Louisiana Sen. Derrick Shepherd

LOUISIANA: Former state Sen. Derrick Shepherd (D), who left office in 2008 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, remains on the ballot even after being disqualified from seeking a second tenure in the state House. Judge Steve Enright of the 24th Judicial District ruled Friday that Shepherd, a convicted felon, is "not qualified to run for the election for which he has filed the qualification papers." However, Enright granted a stay on removing Shepherd's name from the ballot pending an appeal.[1]

Shepherd asked the 19th Judicial District Court the previous day to issue a restraining order against Paul Connick, the Jefferson Parish district attorney, who cited a voter-approved legislatively referred constitutional amendment in arguing that Shepherd is ineligible to seek or hold elected office until 2027, 15 years following his release from prison. While district judge Wilson Fields denied the request, he will hear arguments on the amendment's validity at 11 a.m. CDT tomorrow. Shepherd has argued that the amendment is invalid because the language presented to voters in 1998 was not identical to the language passed by the legislature. According to Shepherd, the version approved by voters did not include a provision allowing felons sentenced to probation to run as soon as they completed their sentences.[2] This was included as an amendment to the Senate bill that the legislature passed in 1997 before it became a ballot measure. Shepherd's attorney, Bob Garrity, said that the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in 1941 that a law passed without following legislative procedure is considered null and void.[3]

Shepherd has claimed that he is reformed and that his campaign would serve as an example of "hope to many citizens who have made a mistake that they too can receive a second chance in life."[2][4] Shepherd and fellow challenger Rodney Lyons Sr. (D) are looking to unseat District 87 incumbent Ebony Woodruff (D) this fall.

General Assembly of North Carolina

NORTH CAROLINA: Last Friday, Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed a $21.7 billion budget, almost three months after last year’s budget expired on July 1.[5] Before Gov. McCrory signed the budget bill, the third temporary government spending provision was set to expire late Friday night.[6] The new budget will fund the government through June 2017.[5] The delay over the budget was over Medicaid reform, economic development and taxes.[7] The budget passed the state Senate by a vote of 33 to 16, and the state House voted 81 to 33 to pass the budget.[8]

After signing the budget bill, Gov. McCrory made the following statement:

The budget submitted to me by the General Assembly includes many of the goals and ideas we put forward to provide the tools North Carolina needs to continue what we have accomplished during the past three years. Now we can work together to implement a common-sense vision for our great state that includes job creation, education, healthcare and transportation.[9]
Gov. Pat McCrory (R)[5]

The budget includes a decrease in personal income tax in 2016 from 5.75 to 5.49 percent, an increase in funding for public schools, a raise in minimum teacher salaries from $30,800 to $35,000, and a $750 bonus to all state employees and teachers at the end of the year.[10] The budget also expands sales tax to include labor for repairs and installations and sets aside $225 million over two years for Medicaid reform.[5] The added sales tax is expected to generate more than $225 million over the next two years; this money will be used for education and economic development for the state's rural counties.[10]

Sessions

Current sessions capture for the week of September 21, 2015
See also: Dates of 2015 state legislative sessions
Click here to see a chart of each state's 2015 session information.

Regular sessions

Currently eight out of 50 state legislatures are meeting in regular session. No states are in recess and 42 states have adjourned their 2015 legislative sessions.

The following states are in regular session:[11]

In recess

As of today, September 21, there are no state legislatures currently in recess.[12]


Adjourned

The following states have adjourned their 2015 regular sessions:[13]

Special sessions

As of today, September 21, there are no state legislatures currently in recess.

2015 Legislative Elections

See also: State legislative elections, 2015

In the 50 states, there are 99 state legislative chambers, of which seven chambers will hold state legislative elections in November 2015.[15]

There are seven chambers in four states with elections in 2015:

A total of 131 of the country's 1,972 state senate seats and 407 of the country's 5,411 state house seats will be up for a vote. This accounts for 6.6 percent of the country's state senate seats and 7.5 percent of the country's state house seats. Altogether, 538 (7.3%) of the country's 7,383 state legislative seats are up for election. Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia hold elections in odd-numbered years. The New Jersey State Senate is the only chamber in those four states without scheduled elections in 2015.

Primary Information

The state legislative filing deadlines and primary dates are as follows:

Filing Deadlines

Primary Dates

Special Elections

SLP badge.png
See also: State legislative special elections, 2015

There is one special election scheduled this week.

New Hampshire House of Representatives District Strafford 1

See also: New Hampshire state legislative special elections, 2015

A special election for the position of New Hampshire House of Representatives District Strafford 1 was called for November 10. A primary election took place on September 22.[20]

The seat was vacant following Robbie Parsons' (R) death on June 22, 2015.[21]

Larry Brown (D) was unopposed in the Democratic primary, while Robert Graham defeated Frank Emiro in the Republican primary. Brown was defeated by Graham in the special election.[22][23]

New Hampshire House of Representatives, Strafford1, Special Election, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngRobert Graham 77.8% 259
     Democratic Larry Brown 22.2% 74
Total Votes 333
New Hampshire House of Representatives, Strafford1 Republican Primary, 2015
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngRobert Graham 92.9% 92
Frank Emiro 7.1% 7
Total Votes 99
Democratic Party September 22 Democratic Primary candidates:
Republican Party September 22 Republican Primary candidates:

Recent election results

September 15, 2015

RunoffArrow.jpg South Carolina House of Representatives District 106

See also: South Carolina state legislative special elections, 2015

A special election for the position of South Carolina House of Representatives District 106 was called for September 15. A primary election took place on July 28. A primary runoff election took place on August 11. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 8.[24]

The seat was vacant following Nelson Hardwick's (R) resignation on May 12, 2015.[25]

Russell Fry, Sanford Cox Graves, Tyler Servant and Roy Sprinkle faced off in the Republican primary.[26] Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters, Fry and Servant, met in a runoff election, which Fry won.[27] Fry was unopposed in the special election.[28][29]

South Carolina House of Representatives, District 106, Special Election Runoff, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngRussell Fry 59.8% 1,738
     Republican Tyler Servant 40.2% 1,167
Total Votes 2,905
South Carolina House of Representatives, District 106 Republican Primary, 2015
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngRussell Fry (advanced to runoff) 44.8% 1,152
Green check mark transparent.pngTyler Servant (advanced to runoff) 33.3% 856
Roy Sprinkle 14.5% 374
Sanford Cox Graves 7.5% 192
Total Votes 2,574
Democratic Party July 28 Democratic primary candidates:
  • No candidates filed for election.
Republican Party July 28 Republican primary candidates:
August 11 Special election runoff candidates:
Republican Party Russell Fry Approveda
Republican Party Tyler Servant
September 15 Special election candidates:
Republican Party Russell Fry Green check mark transparent.png

RunoffArrow.jpg South Carolina State Senate District 45

See also: South Carolina state legislative special elections, 2015

A special election for the position of South Carolina State Senate District 45 was called for October 20. A primary election took place on September 1. A primary runoff election took place on September 15. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was July 13.[30]

The seat was vacant following the death of Clementa Pinckney (D) on June 17, 2015, in a mass shooting at an AME church in Charleston, South Carolina.[31]

Margie Bright Matthews, R. Keith Horton, Richmond Truesdale, Korey Williams, John E. Washington, Kenneth Hodges, William Bowman, Chauncey Barnwell, Sheree Darien, Libbie Henry Green and Kent Fletcher faced off in the Democratic primary. Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters, Bright Matthews and Hodges, met in a runoff election, which Bright Matthews won.[32] Alberto Fernandez was unopposed in the Republican primary. Leilani Bessinger withdrew from the race before the Republican primary.[30][33] Bright Matthews defeated Fernandez in the special election.[34]

South Carolina State Senate, District 45, Special election, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngMargie Bright Matthews 88.5% 5,763
     Republican Alberto Fernandez 11.5% 750
     Write-ins Write-ins 0% 2
Total Votes 6,515
South Carolina State Senate, District 45, Democratic Runoff, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngMargie Bright Matthews 56.2% 3,908
     Democratic Kenneth Hodges 43.8% 3,042
Total Votes 6,950
Democratic Party September 1 Democratic primary candidates:
Republican Party September 1 Republican primary candidates:
Note: Leilani Bessinger withdrew before the primary.
September 15 Special election runoff candidates:
Democratic Party Margie Bright Matthews Approveda
Democratic Party Kenneth Hodges
October 20 Special election candidates:
Democratic Party Margie Bright Matthews
Republican Party Alberto Fernandez

Looking ahead

Upcoming special elections include:

See also

Footnotes

  1. The Times-Picayune, "Convicted felon Derrick Shepherd disqualified from Oct. 24 ballot," September 18, 2015
  2. 2.0 2.1 The New Orleans Advocate, "Convicted felon Derrick Shepherd asking two courts to stop his ouster from House race," September 17, 2015
  3. The Times-Picayune, "Derrick Shepherd to sue over law barring felons from election," September 16, 2015
  4. WVUE, "Judge: Derrick Shepherd not qualified to run for legislature," September 18, 2015
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 ABC11.com, "Gov. Pat McCrory signs state budget," accessed September 18, 2015
  6. abc11.com, "North Carolina budget gets final lawmaker approval," accessed September 18, 2015
  7. wral.com, "Gov. McCrory signs NC budget," accessed September 18, 2015
  8. General Assembly of North Carolina, "House Bill 97 / S.L. 2015-241," accessed September 18, 2015
  9. Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  10. 10.0 10.1 wral.com, "House OKs $21.7B budget deal," accessed September 18, 2015
  11. Stateside Associates, "Session Calendar 2015," accessed September 21, 2015
  12. StateNet, "Daily Session Summary," accessed September 21, 2015
  13. StateNet, "Daily Session Summary," accessed September 21, 2015
  14. Special session abruptly adjourned on August 17 with no agreement in place over redistricting congressional districts. The deadline to create new congressional maps was September 1. The new maps will be drawn by the courts.
  15. Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia will hold general elections on November 3, 2015. Louisiana's general elections will be held on November 21.
  16. 16.0 16.1 Mississippi Secretary of State, "2015 Elections," accessed January 2, 2015
  17. 17.0 17.1 Mississippi Secretary of State, "2015 Election Calendar," accessed January 2, 2015
  18. 18.0 18.1 New Jersey Department of Elections, "2015 Primary Election Timeline," accessed February 2, 2015
  19. 19.0 19.1 Virginia State Board of Elections, "2015 November Election Calendar," accessed January 2, 2015
  20. Fosters, "Special election to be held in state rep. District 1," accessed September 3, 2015
  21. fosters.com, "State rep. loses battle with kidney cancer," accessed June 26, 2015
  22. fosters.com, "Graham, Brown to face off for state representative seat," accessed September 23, 2015
  23. New Hampshire Secretary of State, "Strafford County District No. 1 (Middleton, Milton)," accessed November 20, 2015
  24. scvotes.org, "State House of Representatives District 106 Special Election," accessed June 1, 2015
  25. wmbfnews.com, "State Rep. Nelson Hardwick resigns following inappropriate conduct complaint investigation," accessed May 18, 2015
  26. carolinalive.com, "Four Republicans file for open South Carolina State House seat," accessed June 10, 2015
  27. scvotes.org, "State House of Representatives District 106 Republican Primary," accessed July 29, 2015
  28. scvotes.org, "State House of Representatives District 106 Republican Primary Runoff," accessed September 16, 2015
  29. scvotes.org, "State House of Representatives District 106 Special Election," accessed September 16, 2015
  30. 30.0 30.1 scvotes.org, "State Senate District 45 Special Election," accessed June 26, 2015
  31. NBC News, "'This Is a Hate Crime': Nine People Killed at Historic South Carolina Church," June 18, 2015
  32. scvotes.org, "State Senate District 45 Democratic Primary Runoff," accessed September 16, 2015
  33. scvotes.org, "State Senate District 45 Democratic Primary," accessed September 16, 2015
  34. South Carolina State Election Commission, "State Senate District 45 Special Election," accessed October 21, 2015