Via Ballot Access News:
On March 19, U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson ruled that the Ohio law requiring paid circulators to identify their employer on each petition sheet is probably constitutional. Therefore there is no basis to restore the statewide Libertarian candidates to the Libertarian Party primary ballot. The party and its statewide candidates have filed a notice of appeal.
The decision does say, “Evidence in the record supports an inference that operatives or supporters of the Ohio Republican Party orchestrated the protest”, but the decision also says that is not relevant to the constitutionality of the disclosure law. The opinion says that the disclosure requirement is necessary to help prevent petitioning fraud, although the opinion also says there is no reason to think any of the petitions in this matter are fraudulent.
UPDATE: On March 20, the Ohio Libertarian Party asked the Sixth Circuit to expedite its appeal on whether its statewide candidates should be restored to the Libertarian primary ballot. The party’s brief says, “Ohio’s strict, vicarious punishments of candidates for the sins of their circulators is far too much medicine for the ends (disclosure, fraud detection, prevention) it seeks to achieve. If section 3501.38(E)(1) substantially served Ohio’s end in deterring and preventing fraud, after all, the Secretary would enforce it all the time, not just when someone files a protest.”
The brief also points out that the law requiring circulators to fill in a blank, showing who is paying them, has existed for eight years and had never before been used to remove a candidate or a ballot measure from the ballot. Finally, the brief says that the Ohio Supreme Court will soon be considering whether the challenger who challenged the party’s Attorney General candidate, Steve Linnabary, is eligible to be a challenger (he has never voted in a Libertarian primary). The brief asks that the Court order the Secretary of State not to print the Libertarian primary ballots until the Ohio Supreme Court has a chance to settle the matter of the Attorney General candidate. In the Sixth Circuit, the case is 14-3230. This news story covers not only the U.S. District Court decision, but the news that the party has appealed to the Sixth Circuit.
Ohio does not have a National Socialist party on the ballot but they do have David Macko, a pro-White activist running once again as a Libertarian.
Interested folks can read the briefs here:
http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Clerk/ecms/resultsbycasenumber.asp?type=3&year=2014&number=0359&myPage=searchbypartyname.asp
PEACE
It’s one of those edicts that gets ignored routinely for many years, then all of a sudden they feel the need to enforce it. They did not call SOS because they had done this several times before and had no problem. Also SOS would probably not be reliable for info given that they are controlled by Republicans and they have it in for LP this year.
“paulie March 21, 2014 at 1:37 pm
No one thought it needed to be filled in since it gets routinely left blank on petitions.”
Did anyone bother to call the Secretary of State’s office to ask, or bother to look up online what the law says about the petition requirements?
No one thought it needed to be filled in since it gets routinely left blank on petitions.
Can anyone explain why in the hell the petition circulator did not fill this in, or why anyone from the LP of OH did not fill it in, or did not ask the petition circulator to fill it in?
http://www.ballot-access.org/2014/03/new-filings-in-ohio-libertarian-party-primary-ballot-access-case/
INteresting fact is that the LPO files reports with Ohio and it will show that they paid the petitioner for petition work.
That’s what Republicans (and Democrats) usually assume, although actual polling evidence says otherwise.
http://www.local12.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.oh/28e98b4f-www.local12.com.shtml
The last sentence here says everything.
I have updated the post, thanks for this news.
http://www.ballot-access.org/2014/03/ohio-libertarians-appeal-primary-ballot-access-ruling-to-sixth-circuit/
Ohio Libertarians Appeal Primary Ballot Access Ruling to Sixth Circuit
Published on March 20, 2014,
On March 20, the Ohio Libertarian Party asked the Sixth Circuit to expedite its appeal on whether its statewide candidates should be restored to the Libertarian primary ballot. The party’s brief says, “Ohio’s strict, vicarious punishments of candidates for the sins of their circulators is far too much medicine for the ends (disclosure, fraud detection, prevention) it seeks to achieve. If section 3501.38(E)(1) substantially served Ohio’s end in deterring and preventing fraud, after all, the Secretary would enforce it all the time, not just when someone files a protest.”
The brief also points out that the law requiring circulators to fill in a blank, showing who is paying them, has existed for eight years and had never before been used to remove a candidate or a ballot measure from the ballot. Finally, the brief says that the Ohio Supreme Court will soon be considering whether the challenger who challenged the party’s Attorney General candidate, Steve Linnabary, is eligible to be a challenger (he has never voted in a Libertarian primary). The brief asks that the Court order the Secretary of State not to print the Libertarian primary ballots until the Ohio Supreme Court has a chance to settle the matter of the Attorney General candidate. In the Sixth Circuit, the case is 14-3230.