What's on the ballot today? - February 10, 2015
February 10, 2015
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| February 10, 2015 elections |
| Arkansas |
| Florida |
| Iowa |
| Oklahoma |
The year is starting off quietly for elections across the country, with 14 school board seats up for a vote in Oklahoma and a trio of state legislative special elections appearing on the ballot on February 10, 2015. With the exception of five seats, all are uncontested races.
In Oklahoma, 12 of the 14 seats will be won automatically by candidates who are running unopposed. In Owasso Public Schools, the last contested school board election was in 2006. There is an average of 1.14 candidates per seat in Oklahoma this year, which is a drop from the state's rate of 1.31 last year and significantly below the national rate of 1.90 candidates per school board seat in 2014.
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This trend of unopposed races in Oklahoma largely benefits school board incumbents, who represent 11 of the 12 unopposed candidates. The sole incumbent facing competition, District 5 member Karen Shuey in Moore Public Schools, is likely to coast to victory after her challenger informally withdrew from the race. Although Bryan Kerr announced on January 25, 2015, that he had "decided not to run" for the seat, this decision came after the official withdrawal deadline and therefore his name will still appear on the ballot.[1] Nevertheless, Kerr formally endorsed Shuey for the seat, which she has held since 2010.[2] In the event that Shuey holds on to her seat, just two of the 14 seats up for election will be won by a newcomer. In Edmond Public Schools, newcomers John Coburn and Meredith Exline are competing for an open District 5 seat where residents will also cast their votes on two propositions that could add $88.66 million and $2 million in school and transportation bonds, respectively.[3] Each of the three state legislative special elections will take a different form and occur in a different state. The Arkansas election for the Arkansas State Senate District 16 seat is a primary runoff election between Stan Berry and Greg Standridge for the Republican nomination. The pair knocked Thomas Akin out of contention for the seat in the primary on January 13, 2015. No Democrats or write-in candidates have filed for the seat, so the winner of this contest will automatically win the seat.[4] |
The Florida election for the Florida House of Representatives District 64 seat is a primary election featuring James Grant running unopposed for the Republican nomination and Daniel John Matthews running as an independent write-in candidate.[5] The seat is vacant due an invalidated result in the 2014 general election.[6]
The Iowa election for the Iowa House of Representatives District 23 seat is a general election between Steve L. Adams (D) and David Sieck (R) to replace Mark Costello (R).[7] Costello was elected to the Iowa State Senate in a special election on December 30, 2014.[8]
Oklahoma
- See also: Oklahoma elections, 2015
School boards
- Oklahoma school board elections, 2015 - 13 districts with 14 total seats up for general election
Special elections
Arkansas
- See also: Arkansas elections, 2015
- Arkansas state legislative special elections, 2015 - Arkansas State Senate District 16 (primary runoff)
Florida
- See also: Florida elections, 2015
- Florida state legislative special elections, 2015 - Florida House of Representatives District 64 (primary)
Iowa
- See also: Iowa elections, 2015
- Iowa state legislative special elections, 2015 - Iowa House of Representatives District 23 (general)
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Bryan Kerr," January 25, 2015
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Bryan Kerr," January 26, 2015
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Judy Pendergraft, Edmond Public Schools," December 17, 2014
- ↑ News Observer, "Runoff election to be held for vacant Arkansas Senate seat," January 14, 2015
- ↑ Florida Department of Elections, "Official candidate list," accessed December 17, 2014
- ↑ Tampa Bay Times, "Governor calls special election for state House 64 seat," November 24, 2014
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Official candidate list," accessed January 28, 2015
- ↑ The Des Moines Register, "Special election set for House District 23," January 14, 2015
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