On July 1, Timothy Quinn, an independent candidate for Mayor of Elyria, Ohio, this year, asked the Ohio Supreme Court to put him on the ballot. The county Board of Elections kept him off because he voted in this year’s Democratic primary. Elyria has partisan city elections. See this story.

Ohio has no law saying that independent candidates must not have voted in a major party primary. The only restriction is contained in 3513.04, and it bars independent candidates if that candidate had run for office in a partisan primary that year. But in 2007, the Ohio Secretary of State issued a directive that also bars independent candidates if they voted in a major party primary. Ohio registration forms do not ask voters to choose a party.