Court Opinion

ID: 9530364
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:59:18.936586+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:05.415754
License: Public Domain

Horowitz, J.
(specially concurring) — I agree that the rationale of Marchioro v. Chaney, 442 U.S. 191, 60 L. Ed. 2d 816, 99 S. Ct. 2243 (1979), requires us to reject appellants' challenge to the constitutionality of the state's blanket primary law, Laws of 1935, ch. 26, p. 60. Appellants have not, and, indeed, cannot prove a substantial violation of their constitutional rights of association as a result of the existence or operation of this state's blanket primary. Some crossover voting occurs, but we are unable to take judicial notice of its extent so as to determine whether prejudice has resulted. Experience in other states suggests that any crossover voting is minimal and of little effect, as noted by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in State ex rel. La Follette v. Democratic Party, 93 Wis. 2d 473, 287 N.W.2d 519, 533-34 (1980). The court rejected a challenge to Wisconsin's open presidential preference primary for the same reason we must reject appellants' challenge. In the absence of a showing of prejudice by the enactment of the state's blanket primary law, we are required to assume that the primary law rests on an appropriate factual basis both with respect to the evils to be remedied and to the benefits to be conferred by the enactment of the statute. Accordingly, I concur in the result reached by the majority.
Utter, C.J., concurs with Horowitz, J.