On October 11, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the Secretary of State to let the Democratic Party replace its nominee for State House, 94th district. State ex rel Conrath v LaRose, 2022-Oh-3594. At the August 2022 primary, only one Democrat had been on the ballot, and he withdrew shortly after the primary was over. The Secretary of State refused to let the Democratic Party substitute a new nominee, because the primary results had not yet been certified. But the Democratic Party couldn’t wait for the certification, because if it had, the substitution action would have been too late. It was obvious what the results of the primary would be, because there had been only one candidate on the primary ballot, and no declared write-in candidates.

The vote was 4-3. The majority and the minority opinions are quite heated. There have been many 4-3 election law decisions by the Ohio Supreme Court this year; that court is very polarized. Here is the Opinion.