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The State and Local Tap: Voters may decide Alaska ranked-choice voting initiative in 2020

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January 11, 2020Issue No. 189

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Week in review
On tap next week

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Here's what happened in State and local politics last week.

State Politics: The Week in Review

Ballot Measures Update

2020:

  • Fifty-one statewide measures in 24 states have been certified for the 2020 ballot so far.
    • Fifteen of the 51 certified 2020 measures are citizen-initiated measures. Thirty-five are legislative referrals. One is an automatic constitutional revision commission question.
    • Four measures were certified for the 2020 ballot last week.
      • A first-of-its-kind initiative in Colorado to require the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to create a plan to reintroduce and manage gray wolves on designated lands west of the continental divide was certified for the November 2020 ballot on Monday.
      • An initiative to amend the South Dakota Constitution to legalize the recreational use of marijuana and require the South Dakota State Legislature to pass laws providing for the use of medical marijuana and the sale of hemp was certified for the ballot on Monday as well. This was the second marijuana-related measure to be certified for the November 2020 ballot in South Dakota as voters will also consider an initiated state statute to establish a medical marijuana program.
      • An initiative in Mississippi to legalize medical marijuana and establish a medical marijuana program qualified for the ballot on Tuesday with 105,686 valid signatures. Before voters consider it in November, the state legislature will consider it and has the option to put an alternative measure on the ballot alongside the initiative.
      • An Oklahoma ballot initiative to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was certified for the ballot on Thursday. The governor will decide whether to place the initiative on the primary or general election ballot.
    • Proponents of four additional ballot initiatives in Alaska, Arkansas, California, and Michigan submitted signatures, which are pending verification by state officials.

Monday, January 6

Maine governor announces two supreme court appointments

  • Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) appointed appellate attorney Catherine Connors and Maine Superior Court Justice Andrew Horton to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Connors and Horton were the governor's first and second nominees to the seven-member supreme court. Pending confirmation from the Maine State Senate, they will succeed Justices Jeffrey Hjelm and Donald Alexander.
  • Connors is an appellate lawyer with Pierce Atwood, where she handles civil and criminal litigation matters in federal and state courts. Horton is a superior court justice for the Cumberland County Superior Court in Maine. Gov. John Baldacci (D) first appointed Horton to this court in January 2007.
  • Selection of state supreme court judges in Maine occurs through gubernatorial appointment with Senate confirmation. Whether newly appointed or reappointed, judges serve seven-year terms. Appointed judges must be reappointed if they wish to serve additional terms.
  • Founded in 1820, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court is the state's court of last resort and has seven judgeships. As of January 2020, two judges on the court were appointed by a Democratic governor, two by a Republican governor, and two by an independent governor. There was one vacancy on the court.
  • In 2020, there have been four supreme court vacancies in four of the 29 states where replacement justices are appointed instead of elected. All four vacancies were caused by retirements. In 2019, there were 22 supreme court vacancies across 14 of the 29 states. Retirements caused 14 of the vacancies.

Biden endorses in Texas House special election runoff

  • Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) endorsed Elizabeth Markowitz (D) in the January 28 special runoff election for Texas House of Representatives District 28. Markowitz and Gary Gates (R) are running in the election. The seat became vacant after Rep. John Zerwas (R) resigned on September 30, 2019, to take a position with the University of Texas System.
  • Markowitz and Gates advanced from a field of seven candidates in a special election on November 5 after neither received more than 50% of the vote. Markowitz, the lone Democratic candidate, received 39.1% of the vote, while Gates received 28.4% of the vote, while the remaining five Republican candidates split the remaining 32.4% of the vote.
  • Heading into the election, Republicans hold an 82-64 majority in the House with three seats vacant. All 150 seats in the chamber are up for election in November 2020. Houston Public Media wrote that Democrats were targeting this race to pick up the seat ahead of a bigger push to gain control of the chamber in the 2020 elections. In 2018, Zerwas defeated Meghan Scroggins (D) 54-46.

Tuesday, January 7

Alaska Supreme Court justice announces retirement

  • Alaska Supreme Court Justice Craig Stowers announced his retirement effective June 1, 2020. Justice Stowers was appointed to the Alaska Supreme Court in 2009 by Governor Sean Parnell (R). Stowers was retained by voters on November 4, 2014. He served as chief justice of the court from June 2015 to July 2018. Stowers’ replacement will be Governor Mike Dunleavy’s (R) first nominee to the five-member supreme court.
  • Selection of state supreme court justices in Alaska occurs through assisted appointment, the Commission-selection political appointment method of judicial selection. The Alaska Judicial Council forwards a list of its nominees to the governor, who must choose a name from the list within 45 days to fill any vacancy. Justices serve 10-year terms on the court. Appointed justices are then subject to a retention election at the state’s first general election that is more than three years after the appointment. After that, the five justices are subject to a retention elections every 10 years.
  • Founded in 1959, the Alaska Supreme Court is the court of last resort in Alaska. The chief justice of the court is Joel Bolger. Five justices serve on the court. As of January 2020, four of the court’s justices were appointed by Republican governors and one was appointed by an independent governor.
  • In 2020, there have been four supreme court vacancies in four of the 29 states where replacement justices are appointed instead of elected. The vacancies were caused by retirements.

North Carolina State Senator resigns to join state Utilities Commission

  • North Carolina State Senator Floyd McKissick (D) resigned his seat after representing Senate District 20 for 13 years. McKissick stepped down to accept an appointment to the North Carolina Utilities Commission made by Gov. Roy Cooper (D).
  • The North Carolina Utilities Commission is a seven-person executive board in the North Carolina state government. It is in charge of regulating the rates and services of public utilities and is the oldest regulatory body in the state.
  • Before his appointment to the North Carolina Utilities Commission, McKissick served as the Chairman of the Durham County Democratic Party, a member of the Durham City Council, and a member of the Durham City Board of Adjustments. McKissick is also a partner at McKissick and McKissick, a Durham law firm.
  • In North Carolina, the governor fills vacancies in the state Senate from a list of recommended candidates submitted by a committee of the political party that last held the vacant seat. The current party composition of the North Carolina state Senate is 29 Republicans, 20 Democrats, and one vacancy. North Carolina is under divided government since Gov. Cooper is a Democrat and Republicans control both houses of the state legislature.

Thursday, January 9

Signatures filed for Alaska initiative that would enact ranked-choice voting, top-four primaries, and campaign finance changes

  • The campaign Alaskans for Better Elections filed 41,068 signatures on Thursday for a three-pronged ballot initiative to change the state's election laws. At least 28,501 (69.4%) of the signatures submitted need to be valid for the ballot initiative to be certified. Alaska also has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures equal to 7% of the vote in the last general election must be collected in each of 30 (of 40) Alaska House of Representatives districts.
  • Changes to Alaska's election policies proposed by the initiative include:
    • requiring persons and entities that make contributions that were themselves derived from donations, contributions, dues, or gifts to disclose the true sources of the contributions;
    • replacing partisan primaries with open top-four primaries for state executive, state legislative, and congressional; and
    • establishing ranked-choice voting for general elections, in which voters would rank the four candidates that succeeded from the primaries.
  • Currently, no states utilize a top-four primary for state or federal elections, and one state—Maine—uses ranked-choice voting for some state and federal elections. Top-four primaries are similar to top-two, which are used in California and Washington. Both move candidates through the primary to the general regardless of party affiliation. Instead of the top-two vote-getters moving to the general election, the ballot initiative would move the top-four vote-getters to the general election. Under the ballot initiative, voters would use ranked-choice voting to rank the four candidates in the general election.
  • Former Rep. Jason Grenn (I-22) is chairperson of Alaskans for Better Elections. Bruce Botelho (D), the former mayor of Anchorage and Bonnie Jack (R) are co-chairs of the campaign. Through January 5, 2020, the campaign had reported $757,411, with $600,000 from Unite America and $100,000 from Action Now Initiative. Both organizations have supported ranked-choice voting initiatives in the past. Support was also received from American Promise, FairVote, and Represent.Us.
  • As the ballot initiative is indirect, certification would first send the proposal to the Alaska State Legislature, which would have the chance to approve the proposal or one deemed to be equivalent outright. Otherwise, the ballot initiative would go before voters at the election on August 18, 2020, or November 3, 2020, depending on when the legislature adjourns this year’s regular session.
  • The ballot initiative is also in the midst of a legal challenge. Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer (R), who is responsible for approving initiatives for signature gathering, originally rejected the proposal. Based on a report by Attorney General Kevin Clarkson (R), Meyer said that the initiative violated the single-subject rule. Alaskans for Better Elections asked the state Superior Court to override Meyer, which it did on October 28, 2019. The judge ruled that the ballot initiative covers a single subject: election reform. Defendants (Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer and the Division of Elections) appealed the ruling to the Alaska Supreme Court, which would have final jurisdiction over the issue.
  • Voters in Florida will decide a top-two primaries initiative, titled Amendment 3, in 2020. In Massachusetts, the campaign behind an indirect ranked-choice voting initiative submitted enough signatures to put the measure before the legislature, and it could also be on the ballot in the fall.

Friday, January 10

Filing period ends for legislative, judicial and local candidates in Kentucky

  • The filing deadline passed to run for elected office in Kentucky. In Kentucky, prospective candidates could file for the following offices:
  • The primary is scheduled for May 19, and the general election is scheduled for November 3.
  • Kentucky’s statewide filing deadline was on the same date as Mississippi; these were the eighth and ninth deadlines to take place in the 2020 election cycle. The next statewide filing deadline is January 24 in Maryland.
  • Kentucky has a divided government, and no political party holds a state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers.

Special Elections

  • So far this year, 23 state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 12 states.
    • 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 55 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five even years (2010: 26, 2012: 45, 2014: 40, 2016: 65, 2018: 99).
    • An average of 88 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five odd years (2011: 94, 2013: 84, 2015: 88, 2017: 98, 2019: 77).

Upcoming special elections include:

January 14

January 21

January 28

Local Politics: The Week in Review

Wednesday, January 8

Judge issues temporary injunction blocking state takeover of Houston school district

  • On January 8, Travis County District Judge Catherine Mauzy issued a temporary injunction preventing the Texas Education Agency (TEA) from taking over the Houston Independent School District (HISD) until an ongoing lawsuit disputing the takeover is resolved. The trial is set for June 22.
  • TEA officials filed an appeal with the Texas Third District Court of Appeals on January 9.
  • In November 2019, Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath notified the district of his decision to appoint a board of managers to replace the elected school board. This decision came as a result of a TEA investigation into the board’s governance and as a result of repeatedly poor academic performance ratings at a high school in the district. The transition was originally expected to take place around March 2020.
  • HISD filed a request for a preliminary injunction to prevent state intervention in October. Judge Lee Yeakel of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas denied the injunction in December and remanded the case to a Travis County court.
  • Under a state-appointed board, elected board members would function as non-voting representatives until they were phased back in by the commissioner.
WHAT'S ON TAP NEXT WEEK

Here's what is happening in State and local politics this week.

State Politics: What's On Tap Next Week

States in session

Twenty-one states—California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia—are in regular session.

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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

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