Court Says Ohio Too Hard Minor Parties

[Judi Lynn]

Court Says Ohio Too Hard Minor Parties

Thursday September 7, 2006 6:31 PM

CINCINNATI (AP) - Ohio's rules for primary elections make it too hard for minor parties to get on the ballot, a federal appeals court ruled.

Parties automatically qualify for the primary ballot if their candidate for governor or president received at least 5 percent of the vote in the previous Ohio election. Any other party must file a petition four months before the primary election with signatures equal to 1 percent of the number of total votes cast in the last state election.

That requirement meant minor parties had to file petitions with 32,290 voter signatures by Nov. 3, 2003, to get candidates on the March 2004 primary ballot.

In a 2-1 opinion, a U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals panel Wednesday that the rules were unnecessarily strict and tougher for small parties to meet. The court ruled Ohio's rules violate the First Amendment and have ``a negative impact ... on minor parties and on political activity as a whole in Ohio.''
(snip/...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6064911,00.html

[seriousstan]

1. Thay should help the Libertarian Party and the Green Party

to get on the ballot. Oh, I forgot, the Natural Law Party.

[Eugene]

2. If it keeps Sec. Ken Blackwell from playing favorites in elections

it helps Democrats too along with a previous ruling
that struck down Blackwell's voter registration rules.