On September 22, the Ohio Supreme Court voted 4-3 to put Eric Ungaro, an independent candidate for state house of representatives, on the ballot. The candidate had been removed from the ballot by the Mahoning County Board of Elections on the basis that some of his campaign material had logos and pictures that seemed to show he was sympathetic to the Democratic Party. Here is the Opinion, which says the Mahoning County Board of Elections should have held an evidentiary hearing concerning that evidence. State ex rel Ungaro v Mahoning County Board of Elections, 2022-1061.

The dissenters said the independent candidate filed his petition too late. The Ohio primary for most offices this year was in May, but for state house of representatives, a special later primary was held in August. The law says the petition is due the day before the primary. The dissenters felt therefore he should have submitted his petition in May, not August.

No state has such an arbitrary law on who can get on the ballot as an independent than Ohio does. Ohio does not have registration by party, but bans independent candidates who seem to be associated with a political party. This leads the election boards and the state courts do ponder statements by the candidate, or the candidate’s spouse, who whether the candidate spoke at certain meetings of political parties, or the content of the candidate’s advertising.