Michigan court OKs early primary

LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan's Jan. 15 presidential primary is a go again.

Overturning a pair of lower court rulings, a majority of the state Supreme Court Wednesday morning found the law setting the primary date and granting exclusive access to voter lists from it to the Democratic and Republican parties was not unconstitutional.

The 4-3 decision, after a string of setbacks for the seemingly star-crossed election, means the vote can be held as planned.

State elections officials had said they needed to know the primary's fate by noon Wednesday to have time to prepare and deliver absentee ballots.

The court majority said reserving lists of voters (sorted by which primary ballot is chosen at the polls) to the two parties was within the authority of the Legislature and governor when they approved the primary bill last summer.

Dissenting justices agreed with an Ingham County judge and the state Court of Appeals that information generated by a government-run election was public property and could not be transferred to private interests without a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.

The ruling is a victory for top officials from both major political parties, who pushed the idea of moving Michigan's presidential selection forward and shepherded the primary bill through the Legislature.

Backers of the early primary had hoped it would force candidates to spend more time in Michigan and focus on Michigan and Midwestern issues. But those hopes have gone largely unfulfilled, as most of the Democratic candidates signed pledges not to campaign in Michigan at all because the early date violates national party rules. Two of the leading Democratic candidates, John Edwards and Barack Obama, also removed their names from the ballot altogether. New York U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton is the only top Democrat whose name will appear on the Jan. 15 ballot.

Democratic Party national committee member Debbie Dingell, who with U.S. Sen. Carl Levin took the lead on accelerating the Michigan primary date, said Wednesday she still holds out some hope the state Legislature would amend the statute to put all the Democrats back on the ballot.