The Libertarian Party is seeking court ruling to throw out onerous Ohio ballot access legislation

The following post, “Ohio Libertarian Party Asks Sixth Circuit to Invalidate Ballot Access Law”, is from Ballot Access News written by Richard Winger:

On November 19, the Ohio Libertarian Party filed a notice of appeal to the Sixth Circuit, in Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, 14-3230. The issue in this part of the case is whether Ohio waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity. If Ohio did waive its Eleventh Amendment immunity, then the federal courts have a right to determine if the 2013 ballot access laws for new political parties violates the Ohio Constitution. The U.S. District Court had ruled that federal courts can’t decide whether the 2013 law violates the Ohio Constitution.

The 2013 law appears to violate the Ohio Constitution, because the 2013 law says new parties can’t nominate by primary, yet the State Constitution seems to say all parties must nominate by primary. The 2013 law sets a July petition deadline for new parties, and the Ohio primary is already over by then. The Ohio primary is in March in presidential years and May in other years.