On November 13, the official election results for American Samoa confirmed Republican Aumua Amata won the congressional race over the incumbent Democrat, Congressman Eni Hunkin Faleomavaega. According to SamoaNews.com, of the 10,246 votes cast, Amata received 4,306 to Faleomavaega’s 3,157 votes. Faleomavaega has served 13 terms as the territory’s delegate to the U.S. Congress.

Amata, who is the first female delegate from American Samoa, begins her term in the nonvoting position when the new Congress convenes on January 3, 2015.

The state’s Supreme Court has issued a stay allowing voters to choose a House District 114 candidate on November 4, as originally planned. The ruling suspends the recent decision by the State Election Commission to postpone the election for former House Speaker Bobby Harrell’s seat until December.

Although the vote will take place, there is still a possibility the results will not count. The court may rule on the underlying case by deciding to allow the results of Tuesday’s election or to throw out those results and side with the commission’s special election plan.

The Mississippi Supreme Court has sided with Sen. Thad Cochran, ending a protracted legal battle over the results of the Republican primary runoff election. Chris McDaniel challenged Cochran’s victory in a lawsuit filed in August, claiming Democratic voters illegally participated in the Republican primary.

The court dismissed the suit because it was past the 20 day deadline imposed by common law to challenge an election result. Though the state election laws have changed since the case creating the deadline, the McDaniel campaign argued no such requirement was ever codified.

The state Supreme Court was not persuaded and concurred with the lower court’s dismissal.

Seal of the Judiciary of Mississippi by Connormah on Wikimedia Commons.

No special election will be held to replace former House Speaker Bobby Harrell in House District 114. Harrell, who recently pleaded guilty to ethics violations, will remain on the November 4 ballot, but will not be eligible to win the election.

The plea agreement requires Harrell to resign, not seek office for three years, and cooperate in other investigations. The race for House District 114 will be decided between Democrat Mary Tinkler and Green Party nominee Sue Edward.

Washington, D.C. voters will elect their attorney general for the first time on November 4, 2014. Up until this year, the attorney general has been appointed by the mayor.

In 2010, voters approved a charter amendment authorizing the first election of the city’s attorney general and setting a primary election for April 2014. In late 2013, the council passed a law delaying the election from 2014 to 2018, fearing the city lacked the necessary preparation.

Paul Zukerberg, a candidate for attorney general, challenged the 2013 law in court. In June 2014, the Court of Appeals ruled an election must be held in 2014 unless it would not be practically possible for the D.C. Board of Elections to do so.

Following a directive by the Court of Appeals to set a date for the election, the D.C. Superior Court decided the election will be held on November 4, 2014, the same day as the mayoral election.

A federal judge in Indianapolis ruled the statute delineating how Marion Superior judges are elected is unconstitutional. The election of Marion Superior judges is unique, as Republican and Democratic parties may nominate up to half of the open positions.

Furthermore, once a judge wins in the primary, he or she will automatically be elected in the general because there are as many candidates as there are open seats. Because primaries are restricted to the two major parties, only those eligible to vote in the primary elections are able to cast meaningful votes for the open judgeships, and those who do not declare a party have no say in the election of the judges.

The court found the statute severely burdens the right to vote. The ruling is stayed and will not affect next month’s election.

Democrat Mary Burke will face Republican Gov. Scott Walker in the November general election.

Burke, a former Trek Bicycle executive and state commerce secretary, is the first woman to be nominated by a major party for governor in Wisconsin.

A recent Marquette University Law School poll found women support Burke by a 48 to 41 percent margin, while men support Walker 52 to 42 percent.

A special election will be held on Friday, August 15, for residents of the rural Puna region. Two voting precincts in the region were closed during Saturday’s primary as Tropical Storm Iselle battered the Big Island.

Roughly 8,000 registered voters who were unable to cast ballots will likely decide the outcome of the hotly contested Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. The race between U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz and U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa remains too close to call.

Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a special election will take place on November 4, 2014 to fill the seat vacated by Representative Eric Cantor.

Representative Cantor, who lost the Republican primary election on June 10, recently announced that he would resign from Congress effective August 18.

Cantor has been the representative from Virginia’s 7th District for the last seven terms.

Photo of Gov. Terry McAuliffe by Kate Wellington on Wikimedia Commons.

Today Texas Gov. Perry announced a special election will be held September 9, 2014, for the State Senate District 28 seat.

State Sen. Robert Duncan resigned on July 3, 2014, in order to serve as chancellor of the Texas Tech University System. The winner of the election will serve out the unexpired term of Duncan, which expires in 2017.

Duncan has served in both the state House and the Senate since 1993.

Neel Kashkari is the Republican nominee for governor after placing second with 19 percent of the vote in the first primary election for governor held under California’s open primary rules. The top two finishers in the primaries move on to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.

Kashkari, a native of Stow, Ohio, ran the federal bailout of the U.S. banking system and finished second to Gov. Jerry Brown, who took nearly 55 percent of the returns. Brown, who currently enjoys high approval and campaign donations, is expected to be elected to a record fourth term in November.

The U.S. Senate primary between incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran and tea party challenger Chris McDaniel remains too close to call after the June 3 election date.

If neither candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election will be scheduled for June 24.

The race was considered one of the few remaining chances for a tea party victory after a string of primary challenges ended in defeat.

Without a single candidate securing a majority of votes in Tuesday’s election, Trenton voters must head to the polls for a second time to elect a mayor. A runoff election is scheduled for Tuesday, June 10.

Eric Jackson, the former city public works director, is considered the favorite candidate. Coming into the race Jackson took the lead in campaign financing, while challenger Paul Perez focused his energy on running a positive campaign. There will also be a June 10 runoff for council candidates in the East Ward.

The Dover City Council has set June 17, 2014, as the date of a mayoral special election following the resignation of Mayor Carleton E. Carey, Sr.

Dover’s city charter requires a special election be held no sooner than 30 days and no later than 60 days after the mayor’s office becomes vacant.

Vice Mayor David Bonar will serve as interim mayor until the new leader is chosen. The newly elected mayor will serve the remainder of Carey’s term, which expires on May 11, 2015.