Ohio

Ohio Secretary of State Ordered to Revise Election Guidelines

By Cleveland Law Library

The Federal Court for the Southern District of Ohio recently ordered Ohio's Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, to restructure Ohio's guidelines for including candidates on the ballot.  The Libertarian Party challenged its exclusion from November's Presidential election under Ohio's election guidelines.  Until this decision, Ohio required a party to gather valid signatures in the amount of at least one half of a percent of the total vote in 2006 or at least five percent of the last election's votes.  According to the District Court's holding in the Libertarian Party of Ohio v. Brunner, case number C2-08-555, Judge Edmund Sargus held that where the party seeking to be placed on the ballot demonstrates the "requisite community support", that party must be included on the ballot. Ohio Election law may be found in Ohio Revised Code Chapter 35.  For further information, please see the New York Times article.

Full post as published by Cleveland Law Library Weblog on July 22, 2008 (boomark / email).