California holds a special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat, 21st district, on March 17. Only one name is on the ballot, Sharon Runner, a Republican. However, six candidates have filed declarations of write-in candidacy. See this story. Three of the write-in candidates are Democrats, one is a Republican, and two are independents. California still has write-ins in primaries, but not in general elections, for state office and Congress.

On March 3, the Washington State Senate passed SB 5978, which provides for a presidential primary on the 2nd Tuesday of March. Current law provides for a presidential primary in May, but more times than not the state doesn’t actually hold a presidential primary, for budgetary reasons. Thanks to Jim Riley and Josh Putnam for this news.

Here is the Montana Republican Party’s brief in Ravalli County Republican Central Committee v McCulloch, now pending in the Ninth Circuit. The issue is whether the state can force the Republican Party to choose its precinct committee officers in a primary in which any voter may participate. The U.S. District Court had refused to enjoin the law, so the Republican Party is asking the Ninth Circuit for relief.

The state has been given permission to delay its response until April 29.