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The Voter’s Speakeasy featuring unbiased reporting and insight into life at Vote Smart from our staff, interns, and volunteers.

Challenges in Arizona: the Special Election in CD-8

2012 February 14

By Darren McDivitt, Political Courage Test Director

Following the resignation of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona was faced with a unique situation in holding elections to replace the former Congresswoman. First, the timing of the resignation creates a situation where a Special Election will be held this spring in Arizona's 8th Congressional District to serve the remainder of Rep. Giffords' term. With the Special Primary Election being scheduled for April 17 and the Special General Election scheduled for June 12, the winner of the general election will only hold the office for a short amount of time before the November 2012 elections occur.

In addition, Arizona's Congressional redistricting also creates some unique circumstances in regards to this special election. Arizona gained a new Congressional district based on the 2010 Census data, which necessitates changes to the previously existing districts in terms of district boundaries and numbers. Arizonans removed redistricting powers from the State Legislature in 2000 and placed the task in the hands of an independent commission. The 9 districts drawn up by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission have now been sent to the US Justice Department for approval (because of past voter discrimination problems in the state). Should those 9 districts be approved, the winner of the CD-8 Special Election would be faced with the possibility & challenge of running for the renumbered 2nd district that covers most of the current 8th district's territory. The Independent Redistricting Commission has not operated without controversy though, and recent moves by the ...

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GOP field narrowing, but are candidates really gone?

2012 January 20

The South Carolina Republican Presidential Preference Primary is scheduled for Saturday, January, 21st and while in most of our minds there are only four candidates still vying for the GOP nomination, one look at the ballot will tell a slightly different story. 

Redistricting: The 10-year shake up

2011 December 07

There is one issue that only pops up every decade with noticeable consequences, and that issue is redistricting.

'Supercommittee' misses deadline

2011 November 22

The U.S. Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction was established with the goal of improving both the short and long term financial outlook of the US and reducing the deficit “...by at least $1,500,000,000 over the period of fiscal years 2012 to 2021” But they missed their deadline...

Foreign Influence in American Government

2010 November 01 - mark

Same-Sex Unions in 2009

2009 October 29 - Kristen Vicedomini

The View from Across the Water

2009 October 05 - Bonnie

Interim Appointments and the Seventeenth Amendment

2009 September 26


One Small Victory at a Time

2009 September 16 - Bonnie

Melting in the Heat for the Sake of Democracy

2009 July 21 - Bonnie

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