State election officials in Wisconsin have rejected a challenge by Democrats, who were seeking to knock out fake “protest” candidates that Republicans have registered to run in the Democratic primaries for the spring recalls.

Republicans have recruited a candidate, and collected ballot signatures, for each of the six recall Democratic primary elections for governor, lieutenant governor and four state Senate seats.

The “fake” recruits could especially make an impact in the state Senate races. Without them, only one Republican and one Democrat would be running in each race, thus making a primary unnecessary and triggering the general election on May 8 — the same time as the statewide Democratic primary for governor, which would have sharply increased Democratic turnout.