This article describes the July 12 special primary elections in Wisconsin, in the six State Senate districts with Republican incumbents who are being recalled. In Wisconsin, the successful completion of a recall petition simply means that a special election is held for that office. The special election process includes partisan primaries, if more than a single candidate from any one party files.

Democrats successfully completed recall petitions in six State Senate districts that have incumbent Republicans. Because Wisconsin is an open primary state, with no party registration, any person can file in any party’s primary, and any voter is free to choose any party’s primary ballot. Therefore, in all six districts, individuals who in their heart are Republicans filed to run in the Democratic primaries. These Republicans hope to win the Democratic primaries in as many districts as possible. That way, in the special general election, the race would be between the incumbent Republican, and some other Republican, so not matter who wins, the Republicans will still have the seat. The Wisconsin press has become accustomed to refering to “fake Democrats” to describe this process. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

There are also two districts with recalls of Democratic Senators, and the same thing is happening in reverse in those districts. The primaries in those districts are on July 19.

The New York Times has this lengthy obituary of Fred Newman, who died July 3 and who founded the New Alliance Party and then became an important figure in the Reform Party and the New York city Independence Party. Thanks to Blair Bobier for the link.

This year, the Florida legislature passed a bill that lets state officials choose the presidential primary date. This story shows that it is impossible to predict when the Florida presidential primary will be held. That uncertainty affects two other states that also have flexibility, New Hampshire and South Carolina. New Hampshire is another state in which the law does not determine the date, and which lets a state executive official decide, very late in the process. And the South Carolina Republican presidential primary is being paid for by the Republican Party, so the party is relatively free to also decide much later when to hold the primary.