Voting in the 2015 general elections

Voting policy

Election dates
Voter identification laws
Election coverage on Ballotpedia

* * *

State information
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## Contents

* 1 State executive and legislative elections
* 2 Local and municipal elections
* 2.1 Municipal elections
* 2.2 School board elections
* 2.2.1 School board highlights
* 3 Special elections
* 3.1 Congress
* 3.2 State legislative
* 3.3 Municipal
* 3.4 School boards
* 4 See also
* 5 Footnotes

This page contains voter registration information pertaining to the 2015 general elections.

While odd years are not normally associated with busy election seasons, there was still a lot going on at Ballotpedia. Ballotpedia covered state executive, state legislative and state ballot measure elections as well as municipal, school board, and local ballot measure elections. We also covered special elections as they were announced.

The average polling location was open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time on election day, but this varied by state. View our complete list of state poll opening and closing times here. Polls opened at noon at the latest and closed at 6 p.m. at the earliest.

## State executive and legislative elections[edit]

Specifically, the general dates below refer to when candidates were on the ballot for state executive and state legislative elections.

The table below contains the following information:

* Registration deadline
* Residency requirements
* Voter ID requirements
* Absentee voting requirements
* Absentee voting deadlines
* Early voting deadlines

Voting in the General Election 2015 Information

State  | Registration deadline  | Days before the General Election  | Residency requirements  | Voter ID requirements  | Same day
registration  | Absentee voting requirements  | Absentee voting deadline  | Early voting
deadline

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|
|
|
|
|
|

Kentucky | 10/5/2015[1] | 29[1] | Resident[2] | Photo or non-photo ID required[3] | No[1] | Excuse required[4] | Received by 6pm on election day[4] | No early voting[4]
Louisiana | 10/21/2015[5] | 31[5] | Resident of Louisiana and parish of registration[6] | Yes[7] | No[5] | Excuse required[8] | 11/17/2015[8] | 11/20/2015[8]
Mississippi | 10/3/2015[9] | 31[9] | Resident of state and county or municipality for 30 days[10] | Yes[11] | No[9] | Excuse required[12] | Received by 11/2/2015[12] | Noon on 10/31/2015[12]
New Jersey | 10/13/2015[13] | 21[13] | Resident of the county for 30 days before the election[14] | No[14] | No[14] | No excuse required[14] | 11/3/2015[13] | 11/3/2015[13]
Virginia | 10/13/2015[15] | 21[15] | Resident[16] | Yes[17] | No[15] | Excuse required[18] | 10/27/15[18] | 10/31/15[18]

## Local and municipal elections[edit]

Ballotpedia covers elections in the top 100 cities by population and the top 1,000 school districts by enrollment. Only some of these elections have primaries, and some have a general election followed by a runoff election at a later date if one candidate does not receive a certain percentage of the vote.

### Municipal elections[edit]

See: Municipal elections by date

### School board elections[edit]

See: School board election dates by state

#### School board highlights[edit]

The following chart lists the ten largest school districts that held elections in 2015:

Largest school districts with 2015 elections

District  | State  | Date  | Seats up for election  | Total board seats  | Student enrollment
Los Angeles Unified School District | California | 5/19/2015 | 4 | 7 | 659,639
Houston Independent School District | Texas | 11/3/2015 | 4 | 9 | 203,066
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools | North Carolina | 11/3/2015 | 3 | 9 | 141,728
Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District | Texas | 11/3/2015 | 4 | 7 | 107,960
Northside Independent School District | Texas | 5/9/2015 | 4 | 7 | 98,110
Albuquerque Public Schools | New Mexico | 2/3/2015 | 3 | 7 | 94,318
Jeffco Public Schools | Colorado | 11/3/2015 | 2 | 5 | 85,793
Fort Worth Independent School District | Texas | 5/9/2015 | 4 | 9 | 83,109
Prince William County Public Schools | Virginia | 11/3/2015 | 8 | 8 | 81,937
Denver Public Schools | Colorado | 11/3/2015 | 3 | 7 | 80,890

## Special elections[edit]

Ballotpedia covered several special elections in 2015.

### Congress[edit]

See also: Special elections to the 114th United States Congress (2015-2016)

The following chart lists special elections to the 114th United States Congress as they were announced.

District | Prior Incumbent | General Election Candidates | Election Date | Winner | Partisan Switch?

|
|
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|
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New York's 11th | Michael Grimm |  Daniel Donovan
Vincent Gentile
James Lane | May 5, 2015 |  Daniel Donovan | No
Mississippi's 1st | Alan Nunnelee |  Walter Zinn
Boyce Adams
Nancy Collins
Trent Kelly
Quentin Whitwell
Chip Mills
Greg Pirkle
Daniel Sparks
Mike Tagert
Sam Adcock
Ed Holliday
Starner Jones
Henry Ross | May 12, 2015 |  Trent Kelly | No
Illinois' 18th | Aaron Schock |  Robert Mellon
Darin LaHood | September 10, 2015 |  Darin LaHood | No
Ohio's 8th | John Boehner |  Corey Foister
Warren Davidson
James Condit, Jr.
| June 7, 2016 |  Warren Davidson | No
Pennsylvania's 2nd | Chaka Fattah |  Dwight Evans
James Jones | November 8, 2016 |  Dwight Evans | No
Hawaii's 1st | Mark Takai |  Colleen Hanabusa
Peter Cross
Angela Aulani Kaaihue
Howard Kim
Javier Ocasio
Shirlene Ostrov
Alan Yim
Calvin Griffin
Yvonne Perry
Peter Plotzeneder
| November 8, 2016 |  Colleen Hanabusa | No
Kentucky's 1st | Ed Whitfield |  James Comer
Sam Gaskins | November 8, 2016 |  James Comer | No

### State legislative[edit]

Across the nation, special elections are frequently conducted to fill vacancies in state legislatures. A total of 25 states use special elections to  fill legislative vacancies. In two states, Illinois and Indiana, special elections are used in limited circumstances. In 2015, 89 state legislative seats were filled through special elections in 27 states.

* View the current list of 2015 state legislative special elections here.

### Municipal[edit]

* San Jose, California municipal elections, 2015

### School boards[edit]

* Tangipahoa Parish School System special elections (2015)
* St. Tammany Parish Public Schools special elections (2015)

## See also[edit]

| Suggest a link

|

* 2015 elections
* Elections and events calendar
* Signature requirements and deadlines for 2015 state government elections
* Portal:Elections

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kentucky State Board of Elections, "2015 Kentucky Election Calendar," accessed April 22, 2015
2. ↑ Kentucky State Board of Elections, "Register to vote," accessed April 22, 2015
3. ↑ Kentucky State Board of Elections, "Voter Rights and Responsibility," accessed April 22, 2015
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Kentucky State Board of Elections, "Absentee Voter Information," accessed April 22, 2015
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Louisiana Secretary of State, "2015 Elections," accessed April 22, 2015
6. ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "2015 Elections," accessed April 22, 2015
7. ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Vote on Election Day," accessed April 22, 2015
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Louisiana Secretary of State, "Vote by Mail," accessed April 22, 2015
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Mississippi Secretary of State, "2015 Elections Calendar," accessed April 22, 2015
10. ↑ Mississippi Secretary of State, "VOTER REGISTRATION APPLICATION," accessed April 22, 2015
11. ↑ Mississippi Voter ID, "Mississippi Voter ID," accessed April 22, 2015
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Mississippi Voter Information Guide, "Mississippi Voter Information Guide," accessed April 22, 2015
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 New Jersey Elections, "2015 General election calendar," accessed April 22, 2015
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 State of New Jersey Department of State, "Register to vote," accessed April 22, 2015
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Virginia Department of Elections, "Virginia Voter Registration," accessed April 22, 2015
16. ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Virginia Voter Registration Application Form," accessed April 22, 2015
17. ↑ Virginia State Board of Elections, "In person voting," accessed April 22, 2015
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Virginia State Board of Elections, "Absentee Ballot Application," accessed April 22, 2015

Election information

Resources

Sample Ballot Lookup • Elections calendar • State poll opening and closing times • Ballot access for major and minor party candidates • Elections by state and year • State voter ID laws • Absentee voting • Early voting • Online voter registration • Election result canvassing • Where do I vote • List of absentee/mail-in ballot request websites by state • List of official voter registration websites by state • State of Election Administration Legislation Reports

Elections
by state

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2026 elections

U.S. Congress • U.S. Congress special elections • State executives • State legislature • Statewide ballot measures • State judicial • Municipal government • Mayors • School boards • Local judicial • Local ballot measures • Recall

2025 elections

U.S. Congress special elections • State executives • State legislature • Statewide ballot measures • State judicial • Municipal government • Mayors • School boards • Local judicial • Local ballot measures • Recall

2024 elections

U.S. President • U.S. Congress • U.S. Congress special elections • State executives • State legislature • Statewide ballot measures • State judicial • Municipal government • Mayors • School boards • Local judicial • Local ballot measures • Recall

2023 elections

U.S. Congress special elections • State executives • State legislature • Statewide ballot measures • State judicial • Municipal government • Mayors • School boards • Local judicial • Local ballot measures • Recall

2022 elections

U.S. Congress • State executives • State legislature • Statewide ballot measures • State judicial • Municipal government • Mayors • School boards • Local judicial • Local ballot measures • Recall

2021 elections

U.S. Congress special elections • State executives • State legislature • Statewide ballot measures • State judicial • Municipal government • Mayors • School boards • Local judicial • Local ballot measures • Recall

How to vote
in each state

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