State Senator Viriato deMacedo announced he will resign from office within the next few weeks.

Sen. deMacedo will begin employment as the Director of Regional Partnerships with Bridgewater State University.

Sen. deMacedo, who has been serving in the Senate for the Plymouth and Barnstable District since 2015, was first elected to the state legislature as a representative in 1998. He held that seat until his move to the Senate.

“I’ve done this for 21 years and it’s been phenomenal, but everything has a season,” deMacedo told the Cape Cod Times.

A date for a special election to fill the upcoming vacancy has not yet been determined.

Recall efforts against Sen. Pete Lee of Senate District 11 failed on September 10.

Similar recall efforts have recently targeted Senate President Leroy Garcia of Senate District 3.

Proponents of Lee’s recall notified the Secretary of State’s Office that they would not submit the recall petition signatures required by 5 p.m. September 10.

The petition needed 11,304 signatures to recall Lee, who was targeted for sponsoring legislation to create a paid family and medical leave program to be funded by a mandatory fee on businesses and employees.

Garcia, who won his reelection in November with more than 70% of the vote, was targeted for recall after voting for a bill to restrict oil and gas production in Colorado.

If proponents for Garcia’s recall gather 13,506 signatures by the petition deadline of October 18, the effort will trigger a special election that could be held in District 3 in early 2020.

On April 23, a general election for the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island will be held.

The 65th General Assembly was dissolved on March 26. On March 27, Premier Wade MacLauchlan called for the general election for the 66th General Assembly to be held on the April date.

A binding Election System Referendum regarding the province’s voting system is also scheduled for April 23.

The question on the referendum ballot is, “Should Prince Edward Island change its voting system to a mixed member proportional voting system?”

Advance polls for early voting will be held on April 13, April 15, and April 18.

On March 8, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping campaign finance, lobbying, ethics, and election gerrymandering reform bill.

Introduced by Rep. John Sarbanes, House Bill 1, the For the People Act of 2019, requires any organization involved in political activity to disclose its largest donors, creates a multiple matching system for small donations for political campaigns, and amends rules governing super PACs.

Additionally, the bill restructures the Federal Election Commission, amends the federal conflict of interest law, and expands the revolving door provision by prohibiting Members of Congress from serving on corporate boards.

If enacted, the bill also requires presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns, prohibits partisan gerrymandering, increases oversight over election vendors, creates an automatic voter registration across the country, and changes registration requirements for lobbyists and foreign agents.

A special election will take place on April 2 to fill a vacancy in House District 52.

Rep. Jennifer DeChant vacated the office to work at telecommunications and media company Charter Communications.

DeChant had served in House District 52 since 2012.

There will be a special election on March 12 to fill the vacancy in the Third Supervisorial District.

The vacancy was created when Todd Spitzer won last November’s general election to become Orange County District Attorney.

The district includes Orange, Yorba Linda, Villa Park, Tustin, and parts of Irvine and Anaheim.

Longtime Republican lawmaker and Idaho Lieutenant Governor Brad Little has defeated Democratic challenger Paulette Jordan by a margin of 59.5 percent to 38.4 percent to become Idaho’s next governor.

Jordan, a former state lawmaker and member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, was the first woman to earn her party’s nomination in Idaho. Even though there was significant national media attention given to Jordan, Little’s win was predictable in this intensely conservative state.

Little has been lieutenant governor since 2009 and ran on a platform to carry on retiring Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s policies that lead to the state’s recent growth.

“Twenty-four years ago Phil Batt broke a 24-year cycle of Democrats having control of the governor’s office,” Little said during his victory speech Tuesday night before a packed room of cheering supporters.

“This is the 24th anniversary of that and Idaho is still a very red state. I look forward to working with President Trump as we continue to allow Idahoans to be the masters of their own destiny,” he said.

“Idaho has been fairly successful, but we have more work to do in taking back the authority that the federal government over the years has taken, whether it is in the areas of education, transportation, health care, public lands management and all of the areas of regulation.”

The Tennessee Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday requiring the Davidson County Election Commission to expedite a special election for Nashville mayor.

The office was left vacant following Mayor Megan Barry’s resignation on March 6. Barry pled guilty to felony theft of property exceeding $10,000 for misappropriating city funds over the course of two years; she used the money to bankroll an affair with the head of her security detail.

A special election will be held May 24 with a potential runoff election scheduled for June 28.

A special election for Metro Council District 1 will also be held May 24. The seat was left vacant after former councilman Nick Leonardo was appointed General Sessions judge in January.

A statewide special election will be held June 5, the same date as the primary elections, on a proposed amendment to the South Dakota Constitution.

If approved, the amendment will affect Marsy’s Law victim’s rights provisions approved by voters in 2016.

The attorney general’s deadline to prepare a statement, title, explanation, and recitation of a “Yes” or “No” vote for the proposed amendment is March 27.

California Gov. Jerry Brown called a special election to fill the Senate District 32 seat.

The special primary election will be June 5, the same day as the statewide primary, with a potential runoff to follow on August 7.

The seat opened after Tony Mendoza resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin announced the dates for the 1^st Suffolk Senatorial District special elections.

The primary will be held April 3, with the general on May 1.

The vacancy was created after Linda Dorcena Forry resigned to become a vice president at Suffolk Construction.

Pictured: Outgoing Senator Linda Dorcena Forry

A campaign to recall Santa Clara County, California Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky has submitted enough valid signatures to the Registrar of Voters to qualify for the June 5 ballot.

Judge Persky made national headlines in 2016 after sentencing a former Stanford University swimmer to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an intoxicated, unconscious woman outside a campus fraternity party.

The Santa Clara Board of Supervisors will have 14 days to put the recall on the June 5 ballot.  If they abstain, the recall will automatically be placed on the ballot.

Gov. John Kasich announced the special primary election for Ohio’s 12^th Congressional District will be held on May 8, and the special general election will be held on August 7.

The seat is being vacated by Rep. Pat Tiberi, who is resigning in order to lead the Ohio Business Roundtable.

The district is located north of Columbus.

Lobbying

“A Two-Decade Crusade by Conservative Charities Fueled Trump’s Exit from Paris Climate Accord” by Robert O’Harrow Jr. for Washington Post

Florida: “Hernando Commission to Debate Ordinance Requiring Lobbyists to Register” by Barbara Behrendt for Tampa Bay Times

Campaign Finance

“Facebook Says It Sold Political Ads to Russian Company During 2016 Election” by Carol Leonnig, Tom Hamburger, and Rosalind Helderman for Washington Post

Montana: “Gov. Bullock Settles Campaign Violation Over State Airplane for $3,000” by Tom Lutey for Billings Gazette

New Mexico: “New Mexico Candidate Seeks Court Injunction to Access Cash” by Morgan Lee (Associated Press) for U.S. News & World Report

Ethics

“Trump Gets Millions from Golf Members. CEOs and Lobbyists Get Access to President” by Brad Heath, Fredreka Schouten, Steve Reilly, Nick Pezenstadler, and Aamer Madhani for USA Today

California: “Prosecution Freezes Assets of Fired Centinela Superintendent Facing Embezzlement Charges” by Larry Altman for Los Angeles Daily Breeze

Connecticut: “Ex-Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez Pleads Guilty to Bribe Receiving, Attempted Larceny; Spared Prison” by David Owens and Jenna Carlesso for Hartford Courant

Florida: “Prosecutors Had 5 Years to Charge ex-U.S. Rep. David Rivera. Now Time Has Run Out.” by Patricia Mazzei for Miami Herald

Georgia: “Reed to Ethics Board: ‘I don’t have an ax to grind’” by Nicole Carr for WSB

Elections

“Software Glitch or Russian Hackers? Election Problems Draw Little Scrutiny” by Nicole Pearlroth, Michael Wines, and Matthew Rosenberg for New York Times

Texas: “Court: Texas Can Enforce New Voter ID Law in November” by Allie Morris for Governing