On April 12, six Democratic voters asked Wisconsin election officials to remove six candidates from the May 8 recall primary, on the grounds that even though they obtained enough valid signature, they are running in Democratic primaries and they are not Democrats. Wisconsin does not have registration by party, so the complaint attaches news clippings to demonstrate that the six particular candidates are not loyal to the Democratic Party. Instead, the complaint says, the six candidates filed in the six recall elections (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and four State Senate districts) to make sure that Democrats have a primary for all six offices.

Recall petitions in Wisconsin, when successful, do not simply ask voters if the incumbent should be recalled. Instead, they trigger special elections, in which the recalled office-holder may run to retain the office. If there were no party primaries in these special elections, the special elections would be on May 8. But if more than one candidate from the same party files, then a special primary is held on May 8 and the special general election is held June 5. The complaint alleges (and no one disputes the allegation) that the motivation for some of the candidates who filed in the Democratic primary is to make sure there is a contested Democratic primary, which results in the special general election itself being a month later. Republican office-holders don’t want the special general elections in the State Senate races on May 8 because there is a bona fide Democratic primary that day for Governor, which is expected to attract a large Democratic turnout. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

On April 12, the Ninth Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, struck down the federal law that prohibits Public Television Stations from transmitting advertisements regarding issues of public interest, and advertisements concerning candidates for public office. The decision is Minority Television Project, Inc., v Federal Communications Commission, 09-17311. The lawsuit was brought by one of the few public television stations in the U.S. that does not receive subsidies from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That station is KMTP-TV, located in San Francisco.

The decision depends on the First Amendment, and says that already, public broadcasting stations are entitled to run announcements in which for-profit corporations who donate to public television are permitted to praise themselves. The government argues that if public television stations are permitted to run campaign ads, the management of those stations might alter their content to be favorable to the candidates who advertise. The decision says that although this might be true, there is no evidence that it is true. Thanks to HowAppealing for this news.

On April 11, the Washington state legislature adjourned for the year, after experiencing severe partisan wrangling over the budget. The normal session of the legislature adjourned on March 8, but the legislature was unable to agree on a budget during the regular session. A special session was called for thirty more days, which ran from March 12 through April 10. But even that didn’t result in a budget. The Governor then called a one-day second special session, which took place on April 11 and did result in a budget.

The regular session was characterized by a rare procedural move in the Senate on March 3, in which the Republican minority, aided by three Democrats, passed the Republican budget proposal off the Senate floor early one Saturday morning. See this story.

Preceding the Senate maneuver, the Republicans in the State Senate had voted to rescind a 2010 decision that had ejected Senator Pam Roach, elected as a Republican, from the Republican caucus. See this story about that from the April 7 New York Times.

Proponents of top-two systems in California and Arizona have long argued that a top-two system will elect moderate state legislators who will cooperate with each other and eschew partisanship. Washington state has been using the top-two system ever since the 2008 election. All Washington state legislators now in office were elected in a top-two system. Thanks to Rob Richie for the link to the March story about the budget maneuver.