Paul Zukerberg, the only candidate who filed a petition to run for District of Columbia Attorney General in any primary this year, is currently battling the Washington, D.C. government over whether that office will be on the ballot in the April 1 primary. Zukerberg submitted 4,800 signatures to gain a place on the Democratic Party primary ballot for that office. No one else filed.

The voters of Washington, D.C., had passed a ballot measure in 2010, providing for an Attorney General election in 2014. The ballot said the election would be in 2014, but the actual law, the text of which was too long to print on the ballot, said the election should be held “after January 1, 2014”. The D.C. city council then passed an ordinance saying the first election for that office would be in 2018.

Here is a news story about the government’s brief, which apparently says that voter intent is of no importance when ballot measures are voted on. The lawsuit is pending in the Superior Court, in the D.C. court system (not the federal court system) and obviously the case will be decided quickly, because the primary ballots will be printed in February.