On August 21, the Ohio Libertarian Party submitted this Request for a Status Conference, which makes the case that the constitutionality of Ohio’s ballot access law should be decided soon, because the deadline for candidates running in 2016 primaries is only four months away.
I hope people read the document. It is only 7 pages and has an interesting history of the case, which was filed in September 2013.
7 pages is like reading War and Peace to many internet dwellers. Perhaps a Cliff’s Notes version…
Is a federal court competent to interpret Ohio’s constitution?
The Ohio Libertarian Party argues that the state waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity in this case. Federal courts can construe state statutes in some circumstances.
Richard:
Should the Libertarian party prevail on this matter, will it help any other parties interested in the Ohio ballot in 2016 for any office including President?
Some State regimes allow Fed courts to certify questions to the State Supreme Court regarding legal questions about the State’s laws.
The Libertarian Party is not claiming that the Ohio Constitution violates the US Constitution, nor that the new procedure violates the US Constitution. There initial claim was a due process claim because it had been implemented so close to the 2014 election.
They threw in the claim about the Ohio Constitution as an afterthought.
There are two bodies more qualified to interpret the Ohio Constitution: (1) The Ohio General Assembly; and (2) The Ohio Supreme Court.
The only way that the alternate interpretation makes sense is if it is assumed that the People of Ohio careless left words out of their Constitution.
Ever since the 2013 bill passed, the Ohio Libertarian Party’s briefs have been insistent that the Ohio Constitution requires that all parties nominate by primary. The Ohio Constitution says, Article V, sec. 7. “All nominations for elective state, district, county and municipal offices shall be made at direct primary elections or by petition as provided by law…All delegates from this state to the national convention of political parties shall be chosen by direct vote of the elections in a manner provided by law.”
That is very plain. Yet the 2013 bill says newly-qualifying parties nominate by convention.
“All nominations for elective state, district, county and municipal offices shall be made at direct primary elections or by petition as provided by law.”
Key parts are highlighted.
How are nominations for non-partisan municipal offices made in Ohio? How are nominations for independent candidates in partisan elections made?
Answer: by petition.
Just because they are by petition does not mean that they are by nominations.
The Constitution gives the choice of how nominations are made to the Ohio General assembly. They passed a law that partisan nominations by minor parties be made by petition.
Just because a previous legislature had provided that all partisan nominations be made by primary, in no way binds subsequent legislatures.
The new procedure has the advantage that it does not violate the federal constitution.