On April 1, Gov. Jim Justice issued an executive order postponing the state’s primary election scheduled for May 12.

The election is postponed until June 9 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The order also suspends the rules and regulations regarding municipal elections allowing those elections to be rescheduled as necessary.

On March 28, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued Executive Order 202.12 to move elections scheduled for April 28 to June 23 due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The postponement affects the presidential primary and special elections including:

• The 37th Congressional District
• The 50th Senate District
• The 12th, 31st, and 136th Assembly Districts

The executive order also reschedules a special election for Brooklyn City Council 37th District to June 23.

On March 25, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 422 to move the state general and presidential primary election from April 28 to June 2.

Lawmakers passed the postponement due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns.

Additionally, Gov. Tom Wolf has indicated his support for rescheduling the election and is expected to sign the bill into law.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order extending vote-by-mail for three upcoming elections.

The order comes as part of government efforts to protect public health and combat the spread of coronavirus.

Under the executive order, county election officials are to distribute vote-by-mail to all voters eligible to participate in the special elections.

The elections include the special election for the 28th Senate District, a runoff election for the 25th Congressional District, and a special recall election held in the city of Westminster.

In addition to calling for changes to the way the upcoming special elections are conducted, the governor’s order also extends the deadlines for the ballot counting, tabulation and other responsibilities related to California’s presidential primary election for 21 days.

This will allow for the implementation of appropriate social distancing measures.

Gov. Andy Beshear announced the Kentucky primary election scheduled for May 19 will be delayed until June 23.

The election is being delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Beshear made the announcement Monday evening at a press conference at the Capitol.

Secretary of State Michael Adams hand-delivered a letter to Beshear in the afternoon recommending all Kentucky elections scheduled for May 19, including primaries, special elections, and local option elections, be delayed 35 days.

Gov. Mike DeWine has delayed Ohio’s in-person voting by order of the state’s Health Department after a day of uncertainty about the status of the presidential primary election.

DeWine indicated earlier in the day at a press conference he did not have authority to unilaterally delay the primary and a lawsuit would be filed to move the election to June 2 over concern about COVID-19.

On Monday evening, Judge Richard A. Frye of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas rejected the request.

After the court ruling allowing the election to proceed and an evening of conflicting information, DeWine ended speculation with a tweet at 10:11 p.m.

The Health Department ordered all polling places not to open for Tuesday’s primary elections to protect voters and poll workers from the coronavirus outbreak.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has set April 28 as the date for a special election for the 27th U.S. Congressional District, meaning the election will coincide with the state’s presidential primary election.

The New York Republican Party sued to have the election scheduled for an earlier date, but lost in the state Supreme Court.

The seat was vacated when Congressman Chris Collins, a Buffalo Republican, resigned after pleading guilty to insider trading.

State party leaders will pick the nominees for the special election.

Last week, the Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission voted to raise contribution limits.

For statewide elected offices the contribution limits raised from $6,600 to $7,000 for primary and general elections.

Primary and general runoff elections limits were raised from $3,900 to $4,100 for statewide elected offices.

Contribution limits for all other offices were also raised from $2,600 to $2,800 for primary and general elections and from $1,400 to $1,500 for primary and general runoff elections.

The previous contribution limits had not changed since 2016.

Gov. Rick Snyder has called for a special primary election to take place August 30.

Candidates will be running to fill the vacancy created after the sudden death of state Rep. Julie Plawecki, who served the 11^th House District.

The general election for the completion of Plawecki’s term will be held November 8, with the winner serving through the end of 2016.

A special session is now unlikely until after the primary elections, due to lawmakers’ increasingly busy schedules.

Lawmakers have sought a special session to pass tax and bonding bills since adjourning the regular session in May, but Gov. Mark Dayton required agreement on several issues before he was willing to call the session.

To date, Dayton and lawmakers have been unable to reach an agreement on those issues.

Baltimore City’s primary election results have been ordered to be decertified by state election officials, and a precinct-level review of irregularities is being conducted.

The decision comes in response to a discrepancy between the number of voters who checked in at polling locations and the number of ballots cast, which were higher than the number of check-ins. State elections officials became concerned when they learned Baltimore city officials certified their primary election results and later located 80 provisional ballots which were never analyzed.

The investigation into these discrepancies is expected to continue throughout next week.

Elections

“Clinton Decisively Wins Democratic Primaries in 4 States” by Abby Phillip, John Wagner, and Anne Gearan for Washington Post

“Voters in Eastern Seaboard Primaries Embrace Trump” by Philip Rucker and Jose DelReal for Washington Post

North Carolina: “Federal Judge Upholds North Carolina Voter Rules” by Alan Blinder and Richard Fausett for New York Times

Ethics

Colorado: “Court: Ethics Commission’s Frivolous Complaint Rulings are Final” by Marianne Goodland for Colorado Independent

Kentucky: “AG Asks for Ethics Probe of Bevin Allegations” by Deborah Yetter for Louisville Courier-Journal

Missouri: “Some Progress on Missouri Ethics Reform, But Does It Go Far Enough?” by Jason Hancock for Kansas City Star

New Jersey: “Questions Raised on New N.J. Supreme Court Justice’s Role in Campaign Case” by Salvador Rizzo for Bergen Record

Virginia: “Ethics Lawyer: ‘Common Interest’ in Sports Clears Va. Officials to Accept Free Tickets” by Graham Moomaw for Richmond Times-Dispatch

Lobbying

New Hampshire: “Ethics Panel Calls for Broader Conflict Disclosure for State Lawmakers” by Dave Solomon for Manchester Union-Leader

Campaign Finance

“Checks: Political Money and Democracy” by Justin Miller for American Prospect

On September 30, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation moving next year’s presidential primary and general primary for state elected offices to a single date in March. House Bill 373 sets the single primary date to March 15, 2016. The bill contains other provisions include adjusting the filing dates for campaign finance reporting and permitting the leader of each political party caucus of the House of Representatives and the Senate to establish a separate affiliated party committee to support the election of candidates of that leader’s political party. According to the governor’s press release, he signed the bill after getting an agreement from the legislature to make revisions to the bill regarding campaign finance law, including prohibiting contributions from lobbyists or political action committees while the legislature is in session.

“There were specific concerns I had with the original version of the bill, and the General Assembly agreed to make revisions to address those concerns,” said McCrory in his press release.

Photo of Gov. Pat McCrory by Hal Goodtree on Wikimedia Commons.

U.S. Rep. James Lankford defeated former Oklahoma Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon in Tuesday’s GOP Senate primary. In November, Lankford will face the Democratic nominee for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat.

The seat became available after GOP Sen. Tom Coburn announced plans to step down with two years remaining on his term due to a recurring cancer battle.

Lankford is expected to win the seat easily in the deep-red state; Republicans hold every statewide office and both state legislative chambers.