LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan's county clerks said Tuesday they want to pull the plug on the Jan. 15 presidential primary, now less than 60 days away.

The Michigan Association of County Clerks said it's too late to guarantee that absentee voters such as military members serving overseas, the elderly and the disabled will have enough time to apply for ballots and return them by the primary date.

"Unless Santa and his reindeer are prepared to deliver the ballots, it will be virtually impossible to get absentee ballots to everyone who requests one for the Jan. 15 primary," Saginaw County Clerk Sue Kaltenbach, who will become the association's president in January, said in a release.

The election's future already is in doubt. The state Court of Appeals last week upheld a lower court's opinion that the law setting up the primary is unconstitutional because it would let the state political parties keep track of voters' names and whether they took Democratic or GOP primary ballots but withhold public access to that information.

If the election goes forward, absentee voters will have to ask for a Republican or Democratic ballot, then wait for the ballot to arrive. That's expected to slow the absentee process more than in normal elections.

State officials who support the primary asked the Michigan Supreme Court on Monday to send the case back to Ingham County Circuit Court and have the complaint dismissed.

Failing that, they want the Supreme Court to approve the section of the law setting up the Jan. 15 primary and leave for a later ruling who should get access to the voting records.

They'd like the high court to rule by noon Wednesday so clerks can start preparing for the election over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. So far, the court has not said if it will take up the appeal.

State Elections Director Chris Thomas said it's too late now for a legislative solution if the court doesn't allow the election to take place. The GOP-controlled Senate passed a new primary bill a day after the old one was ruled unconstitutional, but the Democrat-controlled House decided against meeting this week to act on it.

Clerks had to stop working on primary election preparations when the lower court issued its ruling two weeks ago. Catching up will be impossible if the Supreme Court doesn't give the go-ahead by Wednesday, Thomas said.

"If we can get something done tomorrow, we can still hold this election," he said. "Anything beyond that is just kind of playing chicken with failure."

If no primary is held, Republicans will choose their presidential favorites at a Jan. 25-26 party convention. Democrats have a Feb. 9 presidential caucus planned, but could move that into January.

The lawsuit over the Michigan primary has delayed scheduling of the nation's first primary.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner says he won't set the date of his state's primary until it's clear what Michigan will do. He fears Michigan Democrats could try to hold party caucuses on the same day as the New Hampshire primary if the Michigan primary is dropped.