Another Ohio Libertarian Knocked Off the Ballot

The Supreme Court of Ohio yesterday upheld
a ruling to keep the state’s Libertarian Party (LPO) candidate for
attorney general off the ballot.

Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, shot down
Libertarian Steve Linnabary’s bid last month on a technicality. He

determined that because the LPO’s hired signature-gatherer did
not list the party as his employer, the petition to get on the
ballot was invalid.

Linnabary went to court. The Columbus Dispatch

reports on the unanimous decision against him:

The justices ruled that Husted’s interpretation of state law was
“reasonable” in rejecting Linnabary’s argument that one of his
circulators was an independent contractor, rather than an employee,
and not required to list an employer.

The court also found no substance to other issues raised by
Linnabary, a Columbus resident, including claims that the First
Amendment free-speech and due-process rights were violated.

“We are disappointed. This is the first time that qualified
candidates were cut off at the threshold because their circulators
did not disclose their employment. This deprives Ohio voters of
choice, and this is neither right nor fair,” said Mark G.
Kafantaris, a Columbus lawyer representing Linnabary.

The disqualified candidate indicated that he may take his case
to a federal appeals court.

This isn’t the first case of its kind. Last month, Libertarians
accused the GOP of
some shady business to get the LPO’s gubernatorial candidate
booted from the ballot. Although a district court upheld the
decision by Husted to ban the Libertarian, the court
did acknowledge that the Republicans deliberately targeted the
third-party opponent.

The LPO is small, but the party can still have real
repercussions on Ohio elections. Current Attorney General Mike
DeWine, a Republican, is running for reelection. The GOP likely
doesn’t want any extra competition in November, since DeWine eked
out a win for the the position in 2010 with only 47.5 percent of
the vote. His Democratic competitor fell 1.5 percent behind. The
Libertarian candidate captured 2.8 percent of the vote.