On July 21, the Ohio State Court of Appeals, 10th district, struck down an Ohio election law that regulates campaign literature. The law is R.C. 3517.21(B)(1), which says, “No person, during the course of any campaign for nomination or election to public office, shall use the title of an office not currently held by a candidate in a manner that suggests that the candidate does currently hold that office or use the term ‘re-elect’ when the candidate has never been elected to the office.”

Here is the 23-page decision, Magda v Ohio Elections Commission, 14AP-929. The decision is based on the free speech part of the First Amendment. The decision says that if a candidate posts a sign that says, “(name of candidate), (name of office), when that candidate doesn’t hold that office, it is true that a reader might think that candidate is the incumbent. But it says that free speech even protects untrue speech, and in any event it is easy for an opponent of that candidate, or anyone, to point out that the candidate is not the incumbent. In this case, the candidate who put up a sign saying “Kathy Magda, Ashtabula County Treasurer” (even though she wasn’t the treasurer; she was just running for that office) did not intend to deceive anyone. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.