Special Election

A SPECIAL ELECTION, sometimes called a by-election, is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections. Such a vacancy can occur as the result of the death or resignation of the incumbent, or because the incumbent has become ineligible for office due to a recall, felony conviction, or another disqualifying event. The rules governing whether a special election must be held following a vacancy, and the conduct of a special election, vary considerably across jurisdictions. The most common special elections are those held to fill vacancies in legislative bodies, including the U.S. Congress and state legislatures.

The most visible special elections in the United States are those to fill vacancies in the U.S. Congress. The Constitution requires a special election to fill all vacancies in the House of Representatives, although it allows each state to determine its own election procedures. The filling of vacancies in the Senate is governed by the Seventeenth Amendment, which requires a special election, unless a state's legislature has empowered a governor to make a temporary appointment to fill the Senate vacancy until it is filled by an election as directed by the legislature.

The results of special legislative elections are often viewed as a bellwether for the outcome of the next midterm or general election, especially as a referendum on the performance of the president. However, the dynamics of special legislative elections generally resemble open-seat elections where local candidate and constituent preferences often shape the outcome more than national factors. The level of partisan change in special elections is the same as in open seat elections.

Special elections are an important source of turnover in Congress, where incumbents enjoy a very high rate of re-election. Because special elections occur outside the normal election cycle, they offer a useful way to study the effects of sudden, unexpected changes in representation. Traditionally underrepresented groups have successfully utilized special elections to increase their ratio of membership in the U.S. House. This is especially true for women. Nearly a third of women entering the House in the 1980s and 1990s won their seats in special elections.