Current Events > Alabama looking to do away with special elections for vacant senate seats

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://twitter.com/lyman_brian/status/955959176982908929


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Holy shit, it's so blatant.
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I don't understand how you... don't... have a special election if the seat has been vacated

like what
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So who does the appointing? The governor?

Can't lose election if you don't have them.
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So if a senator leaves mid year, nothing would then happen to put someone else in the seat?

This seems weird. Most votes in Alabama are going to be won by a Republican. Why would they think the Moore/Johnson debacle would be the normal outcome.
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Republicans going to Republican

Doom_Art posted...

I don't understand how you... don't... have a special election if the seat has been vacated

like what

Presumably they would just stick with the appointed guy until a regular election, 2020 in the case of the seat Jones won.
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So, if they have a democratic senator and he dies in office, the governor will just be able to name a republican instead?

Doug Jones should hire some extra security just in case
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What a blatantly corrupt state
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Doom_Art posted...

I don't understand how you... don't... have a special election if the seat has been vacated

like what

Presumably the Governor's appointee would serve the remainder of the term.
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emblem boy posted...

This seems weird. Most votes in Alabama are going to be won by a Republican. Why would they think the Moore/Johnson debacle would be the normal outcome.

Because they can just change the law again once things go back to 'normal'.
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I understand the desire to have an appointed replacement, since no state should go without its maximum representation for any longer than it absolutely has to, but an election should be held ASAP to elect a permanent replacement. It's the properly democratic course of action.

Antifar posted...

Presumably the Governor's appointee would serve the remainder of the term.

That seems... corrupt
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ElatedVenusaur posted...

It's the properly democratic course of action.

That's cute. You still think Republicans care about Democracy.
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it would never happen but imagine if the AL gov was a democrat when the senate seats open up
see how quick it'd last lol
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BLAKUboy posted...

Holy shit, it's so blatant.

BLAKUboy posted...

ElatedVenusaur posted...

It's the properly democratic course of action.

That's cute. You still think Republicans care about Democracy.

I don't. This is actually way less blatant than their combined gerrymandering/voter suppression strategy.

prince_leo posted...

it would never happen but imagine if the AL gov was a democrat when the senate seats open up
see how quick it'd last lol

That's what makes the calculation here interesting: they clearly think Democrats winning a special election for Senator is more likely than winning an election for governor. Aside from maybe having more people turn out for a standard November election, I don't know why they would think that.
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The new appointee wouldn't serve the term, he serves until the next general election (2018 here)

See the follow up tweets and link to the NCSL
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Presently, 36 states fill a U.S. Senate vacancy at their next regularly-scheduled general election. The remaining 14 require that a special election be called. And only four states prohibit the governor from making an interim appointment, requiring instead that the seat remain vacant until the next election (whether regular or special) is held. In another three, the governor may make an appointment to fill the vacancy temporarily, but only under very strict conditions.
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