Recall efforts are underway in Louisiana against Governor Bobby Jindal and against three Republican state legislators. The Republican Party’s executive director recently filed a public records request to see the signed petitions, even though they haven’t been turned in yet. See this story.

It seems obvious that the petitions are not public records until they have been submitted to elections officials. In the past, three U.S. Courts of Appeals have ruled that initiative or recall petitions need not be printed in languages other than English, even in jurisdictions where ballots must be printed in various languages other than English. Thanks to Joshua Spivak of the Recall Elections Blog for the link.