State Sen. Rick Gudex took his own life on October 12, 2016. Gudex was elected to represent District 18 in 2012 and served in 2015 as the president pro tempore before announcing he would not run for re-election in 2016. Gudex was a former mayor of Mayville and also a member of the Fond du Lac Common Council.

Gov. Scott Walker does not plan to call a special election to fill Gudex’s seat as the Nov. 8 election is less than a month away, leaving the seat vacant until January when the new term begins.

On September 22, 2016, Secretary of State John Merrill certified Republican Joe Lovvorn as the winner of House District 79. As a result, the special general election scheduled for November 29 has been canceled.

Originally, Lovvorn was supposed to face Libertarian Gage Fenwick, but Merrill’s office stated Fenwick failed to get enough signatures to qualify for ballot access.

Nassau County Legislator Judith Jacobs passed away on September 13, 2016.

Jacobs, the presiding officer of the county Legislature, was serving her 11^th term as the District 16 representative.

With more than one year left in her term, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano has set a special election to fill the Jacob’s seat on November 8, 2016.

Gov. Terry Branstad has scheduled a special election for Iowa Senate District 45 on December 27, 2016.

The special election will fill the vacancy created by the passing of Sen. Joe Seng.

Branstad wanted the special election to be held on the same day as the general election, but the county auditor declined the request because adding the special election would cause undue delay in delivering absentee ballots.

Cleveland City Council approved a proposal this week to put a minimum wage increase before the voters in a 2017 special election.

If passed by the voters, the proposal would increase the city minimum wage to $12 per hour in January 2018 and increase the wage $1 annually thereafter for three additional years.

The issue will appear on the ballot on May 2, 2017.

Photo of the Cleveland skyline by Eric Drost in Wikimedia Commons.

A special election will be held on November 8, the same day as the general election, to fill the state’s First Congressional District seat. Rep. Ed Whitfield, who already stated he would not seek reelection, announced his resignation last week amid concerns he granted special favors to his lobbyist wife. His resignation was effective on September 6.

Gov. Matt Bevin announced the special election will be held to fill the seat for the final two months of the term. Republican nominee James Comer, who was already running to take Whitfield’s place, is expected to be the nominee in special election as well.

A judge has ordered a special election for House District 78 after a candidate lost the Democratic primary by roughly 90 votes. Although Bruce Franks won the in-person vote, his opponent’s margin of victory came solely from absentee ballots. Franks filed suit alleging people who cast absentee ballots did not qualify to apply for them.

Circuit court judge Rex Burlison ordered a special election be held September 16 because the board of elections violated state law by failing to require all absentee votes be in the proper absentee ballot envelopes.

A special election for the North Dakota House of Representatives District 15 will take place on November 8, 2016.

The District 15 seat is vacant following Rep. Curt Hofstad’s recent death due to a heart attack.

Candidates for the special election will be nominated by their parties rather than through primaries.

A special election has been set for November 8, 2016, to temporarily fill the seat of U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah.

The 2nd Congressional District seat was vacated when Fattah resigned after being convicted in federal court on 22 counts, including money laundering, bribery, and fraud.

The winner of the special election, held on the same day as the general election, will hold the seat for exactly eight weeks before the 115th Congress is sworn in on January 3.

Two House district special elections will take place on November 8, 2016. Gov. Phil Bryant announced elections for House Districts 89 and 106 will coincide with the general election.

The District 89 seat became vacant when state Rep. Bobby Shows retired.

State Rep. Herb Frierson left his District 106 seat to become commissioner of revenue.

If no candidate receives a majority on November 8, a runoff election will be held November 29.

A special primary election will be held on September 13, 2016, to fill a general election ballot vacancy for Ohio’s 8th Congressional District.

Democratic nominee Corey Foister withdrew from the race to pursue an out-of-state opportunity he said he couldn’t pass up.

Steven Fought, a former congressional staffer from Toledo, was the only Democrat to file for the special election ballot. In November, he will challenge recently elected Republican U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson for the seat in former House Speaker John Boehner’s district. Davidson won a June 7 special election to complete Boehner’s term and is seeking a full term in November.

Gov. Jay Nixon issued a writ of election to fill the vacancy for Missouri Senate District 4. Joseph Keaveny vacated the seat on July 7, 2016, to become an administrative law judge at the Department of Labor.

Interested candidates must file declarations of candidacy with the Office of the Secretary of State by September 7, 2016, for the special election on November 8, 2016.

A special primary election will be held to fill Mike Hill’s vacant seat in the House of Representatives for District 41.

The vacancy is a result of Hill’s resignation in order to accept an appointment by Gov. Robert Bentley as the commissioner of the state Banking Department.

The special primary will be held October 18, 2016, and the special general will be held January 10, 2017, provided a runoff is not required.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson will call a special election to fill the House seat left vacant by the passing of state Rep. Sheilla Lampkin.

The special election will coincide with the November 8 general election.

Voters in Lampkin’s district will be able to vote in both the special election to fill Lampkin’s remaining term and in the general election for the seat.