UPDATE: A correction of this story is posted in a separate article at IPR.
On March 16, a U.S. District Court upheld Ohio’s ballot access law for newly-qualifying parties. The law was passed in 2013 and did not change the petition to get on the ballot, except that it improved the deadline, and added a distribution requirement. The 2013 law provides that newly-qualifying parties nominate by convention instead of by primary. Here is the opinion.
Currently the Green Party is the only ballot-qualified party in Ohio other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. Any other parties will need 30,560 signatures by July 6, 2016.
Oddly enough, the decision doesn’t even discuss the Libertarian Party’s main argument, which is that the new law violates the Ohio State Constitution. Normally federal courts can’t decide whether a state law violates a state constitutional provision, but there are exceptions. The Ohio State Constitution appears to mandate that all parties nominate by primary.
Excellent courtroom photograph.
the decision doesn’t even discuss the Libertarian Party’s main argument,
This was not the LPO lawsuit, but the ACLU/Green Party suit. The ACLU/Green suit relies on federal constitutional problems while the LPO suit relies on the Ohio Constitution problems.
PEACE