The Federal Tap: Ranked-choice voting at the center of a battleground US House race
From Ballotpedia
November 16, 2018Issue No. 138
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Monday, November 12
Sinema (D) defeats McSally (R) in Arizona Senate race
- U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D) defeated U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R) in the general election for U.S. Senate in Arizona. McSally conceded the race. With more than 2.2 million votes counted, Sinema led McSally 49.7 percent to 47.9 percent. Incumbent Sen. Jeff Flake (R), who was first elected in 2012, did not seek re-election.
- With two races still to be called, the Republican Party has at least a 51-seat majority in the chamber following the 2018 midterm elections. Democrats will hold at least 45 seats, and independents who caucus with the Democrats will hold two seats. At least four incumbents—three Democrats and one Republican—lost their seats.
Wednesday, November 14
Trump backs FIRST STEP Act
- President Donald Trump announced his support for the FIRST STEP Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill. The bill proposes reforming lifetime mandatory minimum sentencing by giving a judge more discretion when sentencing non-violent repeat drug offenders and making the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive. It also proposes providing prisoners with drug treatment programs; vocational and educational training and instruction; the ability to earn credit for early release; and placing inmates closer to their family and friends to allow for easier and more frequent visitations.
- Speaking about the legislation, Trump said, “I urge lawmakers in both House and Senate to work hard and to act quickly and send a final bill to my desk, and I look very much forward to signing it. … Today’s announcement shows that true bipartisanship is possible and maybe it will be thriving. When Republicans and Democrats talk, debate and seek common ground we can achieve breakthroughs that move our country forward and deliver for our citizens.”
Legislators pick leadership teams for next session of Congress
- Senate Republicans, who will maintain the majority during the next session of Congress, and Senate Democrats elected the following members to their leadership teams for the 116th session of Congress:
- Republicans
- Senate Republican Leader: Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
- Republican Whip: John Thune of South Dakota
- Chair of the Conference: John Barrasso of Wyoming
- Policy Committee Chair: Roy Blunt of Missouri
- Vice Chair of the Conference: Joni Ernst of Iowa
- Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee: Todd Young of Indiana
- Democrats
- Senate Democratic Leader and Chair of the Conference: Charles E. Schumer of New York
- Democratic Whip: Richard J. Durbin of Illinois
- Assistant Democratic Leader: Patty Murray of Washington
- Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee: Debbie Stabenow of Michigan
- Vice Chair of the Conference: Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
- Vice Chair of the Conference: Mark Warner of Virginia
- Chair of the Steering Committee: Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
- Chair of Outreach: Bernie Sanders of Vermont
- Vice Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee: Joe Manchin of West Virginia
- Senate Democratic Conference Secretary: Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin
- Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: Schumer-appointed position, to be determined
- House Republicans, who will be in the minority during the next session of Congress, elected the following members to their leadership team:
- Minority Leader: Kevin McCarthy of California.
- Minority Whip: Steve Scalise of Louisiana.
- Republican Conference Chair: Liz Cheney of Wyoming.
- National Republican Congressional Committee Chair: Tom Emmer of Minnesota.
- Republican Conference Vice Chair: Mark Walker of North Carolina.
- Republican Conference Secretary: Jason Smith of Missouri.
- Republican Policy Committee Chair: Gary Palmer of Alabama.
- The election for Speaker of the House will take place during the first week in January 2019. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the current House Minority Leader and former Speaker, is the only person who is formally seeking the position.
Thursday, November 15
Treasury Department sanctions 17 Saudi officials for murder of American journalist
- The Treasury Department placed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials who were suspected to be responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The sanctions were imposed under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which allows the federal government to punish human rights offenders. The sanctions banned Americans from doing business with the 17 officials and any U.S. assets belonging to the officials were frozen.
- Saud Al-Qahtani, a senior official of the Government of Saudi Arabia, and Maher Mutreb, Al-Qahtani’s subordinate, were two of the 17 sanctioned. The Treasury Department said that they were “part of the planning and execution of the operation that led to the killing” of Khashoggi.
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement, “The Saudi officials we are sanctioning were involved in the abhorrent killing of Jamal Khashoggi. These individuals who targeted and brutally killed a journalist who resided and worked in the United States must face consequences for their actions.”
- Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a resident of Virginia, wrote articles that were critical of the Saudi government. He was killed in October after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to get paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancée.
Federal judge declines to overturn use of ranked-choice voting in Maine congressional election; officials declare a winner
- Judge Lance E. Walker, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, issued an order allowing for votes cast in the contest for Maine's 2nd U.S. House District to be tabulated under the state's ranked-choice system. Earlier this week, Republican candidate Bruce Poliquin and three Maine voters (Brett Baber, Terry Hamm-Morris, and Mary Hartt) had requested that the court prohibit the application of ranked-choice voting in determining the winner of the U.S. House election in that district. Instead, the plaintiffs asked the court to order election officials to apply a plurality vote system in determining the election's winner. The plaintiffs alleged that Maine's ranked-choice voting law violated Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which they construed to require that winners in U.S. House elections be determined by plurality vote. Walker rejected this argument: "I am not persuaded that the United States Constitution compels the Court to interfere with this most sacred expression of democratic will by enjoining the ballot-counting process and declaring Representative Poliquin the victor."
- After Walker issued his order, state election officials announced that Democrat Jared Golden had won the election, receiving 50.5 percent upon retabulation. Under ranked-choice voting, voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she 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, lifting the second-preference choices indicated on those ballots. A new tally is conducted to determine whether any candidate has won a majority of the adjusted votes. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.
Friday, November 16
DeSantis remains ahead following FL machine recount; hand recounts called in Senate and agriculture commissioner races
- Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner (R) ordered a recount in the state’s elections for U.S. Senate, governor, and agriculture commissioner, after county election boards reported unofficial results to the state Saturday that showed all three races were separated by a margin of 0.5 percent or less.
- Under Florida law, a machine recount is required when the margin of victory is 0.5 percent or less. If the machine recount indicates a final margin within 0.25 percentage points, a manual recount must be ordered. A manual recount is a hand recount of overvotes and undervotes.
- The deadline for counties to submit results from the machine recount was Thursday at 3 PM. In the governor’s race, Ron DeSantis (R) led Andrew Gillum (D) by 0.41 percentage points following the recount. Gillum did not concede the race. He said in a statement, “As today’s unofficial reports and recent court proceedings make clear, there are tens of thousands of votes that have yet to be counted. We plan to do all we can to ensure that every voice is heard in this process.”
- Manual recounts were ordered in the other two races. According to unofficial results on the state website, Rick Scott (R) led Bill Nelson (D) in the U.S. Senate race by 0.15 percentage points. In the agriculture commissioner’s race, Nicole Fried (D) led Matt Caldwell (R) by .06 percentage points.
As of Friday evening, six uncalled races remain
- All 435 seats in the U.S. House and 35 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate were up for election this year. As of 5:00 p.m. ET on November 16, 2018, six battleground races—two in the Senate and four in the House—remain uncalled.
- In Florida's U.S. Senate election, Gov. Rick Scott (R) leads three-term incumbent Bill Nelson (D) by a margin of just over 12,500 votes—0.15 percent of all votes cast. A manual recount was ordered Nov. 15 after a machine recount found the result within a margin of 0.25 percentage points.
- In Mississippi's special election for the remainder of former Sen. Thad Cochran's (R) unexpired term, no candidate won a majority of the vote. The top two finishers were interim Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) with 41.5 percent of the vote and attorney Mike Espy (D) with 40.6 percent. The two will advance to a Nov. 27 runoff.
- In California's 39th Congressional District, located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, former state Assemblywoman Young Kim (R) leads advocate Gil Cisneros (D) by a margin of just over 120 votes out of just under 200,000 votes cast. Incumbent Ed Royce (R) did not seek re-election this year.
- In Georgia's 7th Congressional District, located in the northeastern suburbs of Atlanta, incumbent Rob Woodall (R) leads professor Carolyn Bourdeaux (D) by just over 900 votes out of just under 280,000 cast.
- In New York's 22nd Congressional District, located in central upstate New York, state assemblyman Anthony Brindisi (D) leads incumbent Claudia Tenney (D) by just under 1,300 votes. Over 230,000 votes were recorded.
- In Utah's 4th Congressional District, just south of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams (D) leads incumbent Mia Love (R) by just under 900 votes, with 240,000 votes cast.
Congress is out of session
The House and Senate will not be in session. The Senate will reconvene on November 26, 2018, and the House will reconvene on November 27.
SCOTUS is out of session
The Supreme Court will not hear arguments this week. They will next hear arguments the week of November 26. To learn more about this term, read our review.
WHAT'S ON TAP NEXT WEEK
Where was the president last week?
- On Tuesday, President Donald Trump received an intelligence briefing. He also participated in a ceremony for the Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.
- On Wednesday, Trump had lunch with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
- On Thursday, Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., to thank members of the military for their service. Trump also spoke to veterans and military families at the White House in celebration of National Veterans and Military Families Month. He then met with Senate Republican leadership.
- On Friday, Trump signed HR 3359—the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018. He met with SBA Administrator Linda McMahon. He also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to several people at the White House.
Federal Judiciary
- 136 federal judicial vacancies
- 69 pending nominations
- 22 future federal judicial vacancies
About
The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.
