Challenges by 3 GOP Primary Hopefuls Going to U.S. Court

Three unsuccessful Republican Assembly candidates who had hoped for a speedy challenge of the March open primary are making an unexpected detour into federal court.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California’s open primary was unconstitutional, the three candidates--Jim Righeimer and Bruce Matthias of Orange County, and Robert S. DeMallie, of San Bernardino County--filed lawsuits in state court against California Secretary of State Bill Jones and the winning Republican candidates in their individual races.

Righeimer, Matthias and DeMallie received more Republican votes on March 7, but their opponents collected the highest number of overall votes. Last week, Righeimer, Matthias and DeMallie asked a Sacramento Superior Court judge to nullify the election results by ordering a recount of only the Republican votes in their contests.

The judge granted an emergency hearing, which had been scheduled for Tuesday. But lawyers for Jones and the winning candidates--Dennis R. Yates, of San Bernardino, Tom Harman, of Huntington Beach, and Lynn Daucher, of Brea--intervened. They requested the matter be reassigned to federal court, where the cases were parceled to three judges.

The two sides face an Aug. 31 deadline, the day the Nov. 7 ballots must be ready for the printers.