On January 5, 2016, a special election will be held to fill the Rhode Island Senate District 11 seat left vacant by Sen. Christopher Scott Ottiano. Ottiano, whose district covers Bristol, Portsmouth, and Tiverton, resigned on October 13 to work exclusively as an associate medical director at Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island. On October 14, Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea announced if more than one candidate from either party qualifies for the ballot, a primary election will be held on December 1, 2015.

A special primary election has been scheduled for November 3, 2015, to fill the seats in state House Districts 80 and 82.

These seats were previously held by Rep. Cindy Gamrat and Rep. Todd Courser, respectively. Gamrat was expelled by the House on September 11, 2015, and Courser resigned the same day following allegations of misconduct and misuse of taxpayer resources in an attempt to hide their extramarital affair.

Now, despite opposition from the House, both are running in the special election to fill these seats. If either or both of them win, there is speculation the House could refuse to seat them; however, most representatives seem reluctant to commit to such action at this point.

The special general election will be held on March 8, 2016.

A special election has been scheduled for November 3, 2015, to fill the vacant House District 23 seat.

Candidates had until September 14 to file to be on the ballot. Write-in candidates must file their declarations by September 25.

State Rep. Michael Shaw, who was in his fourth term, resigned his position because he will be moving out of the district.

A special election for Texas State House District No. 118 will be held on November 3. The winner will serve the remainder of the term for the seat left vacant by Joe Farias who resigned from office on August 10. Six candidates are competing the seat. The election was announced by Gov. Greg Abbott on August 25 to join the November uniform election date.

On September 22, 2015, a special primary election will be held for New Hampshire state representative from Strafford County District No. 1 (Middleton and Milton). The special general election for the seat will be held on November 10, 2015. A precept for a special election was approved on July 22 by Gov. Margaret Hassan and the Executive Council.

A special election has been scheduled for November 3, 2015, for the House District 19 seat. The seat was left vacant when state Rep. William Noon passed away from cancer.

His widow, Jean Noon, an organic sheep farmer, was chosen by Democratic caucus to run in the special election.

The Republican caucus chose Matthew Harrington, a police officer, as their candidate.

Photo of Rep. William Noon courtesy of the Maine House of Representatives website.

State Sen. Rick Brinkley resigned from the Senate just before pleading guilty to federal felony charges on August 20, 2015.

The charges stem from an investigation into misappropriated funds from the Better Business Bureau of Tulsa. A lawsuit filed by the BBB alleges Brinkley used fake corporations to steal more than $1.8 million from the agency.

Brinkley had been the president and CEO of the BBB until 2011 when he became its chief operating officer; he was fired in April of 2015.

A special primary election to fill the Senate District 34 seat will be held on November 12, 2015. If a special general election is needed, it will be held on January 12, 2016.

The special election to fill the House District 18 seat has been set for September 12, 2015.

Rep. Mike Barbieri vacated the seat to take a job leading the state’s Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.

In a written statement, House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf said the date was chosen to give candidates time to reach out to voters in the district and, by scheduling the election on a Saturday, to make voting “as convenient as possible.”

Gov. Mary Fallin has called a special election to fill the seat of state Sen. Rick Brinkley.

A primary election for the District 34 seat will be held on November 10, 2015 and a general election on January 12, 2016.

Sen. Brinkley announced his resignation, effective at the end of the year, amid allegations of embezzling more than $1 million.

On August 3, Gov. Rick Snyder called for a special election to fill the House District 75 seat, vacated by State Rep. Brando Dillon on the same day. The special election will be held on March 8, 2016, with the primary election to be held on November 3, 2015.

A special election will be announced to fill the vacant District 43 seat in the state senate. Sen. Ronald Ramsey is leaving the post after being appointed judge of the new DeKalb County traffic court.

The date of the special election has not yet been determined, but must be called for within 10 days of the seat being vacated. The election must then be between 30 and 60 days later.

Gov. Scott Walker has set a special election date for the 99^th Assembly District seat. Rep. Chris Kapenga vacated the seat after his election to the state Senate in July.

The special election will be held September 29. If a primary is required, it will be held September 1.

Gov. Jay Nixon has set the special election date for three vacant seats in the General Assembly. The 29th District, 36th District, and the 89th District special elections will be held on November 3, 2015.

Rep. Noel Torpey resigned from his 29th District seat to take a job as a lobbyist. Rep. Kevin McManus resigned from his 36th District seat following his election to the City Council of Kansas City. Rep. John Diehl Jr. resigned from his 89th District seat after admitting to inappropriate texts with an intern.

State Rep. Mike Barbieri is resigning from the Delaware House of Representatives effective August 3, 2015. He will become the new director of the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health in the state Department of Health and Social Services.

A special election to fill his18th District seat must be held 30 to 45 days from the date of vacancy; however, a date has not yet been set. Barbieri’s legislative aide, David Bentz, has already announced his candidacy for the pending election.