Opinion ID: 772250
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Procedural history of the Libertarian Party of Ohio's challenge to the Ohio ballot scheme

Text: 12 The Libertarian Party of Ohio was formed in 1972 and is the Ohio affiliate of the national Libertarian Party, founded in Colorado in 1971. It obtained the status of a political party as defined under Ohio Revised Code § 3517.01 in 1982, and was therefore eligible for a voting cue on the general-election ballot that year as permitted by Ohio Revised Code § 3505.03. The Libertarians failed to poll at least five percent of the voters in the 1982 election, however, thus losing their status as a recognized political party. Not until November of 1999 - a year after the events in question - did the Libertarian Party of Ohio again succeed in obtaining enough signatures to qualify as a political party on the general-election ballot. 13 On April 25, 1998, the Libertarian Party of Ohio held its annual convention in Akron. Among other items of business, it nominated Schrader as its candidate for the United States House of Representatives from the Seventh Congressional District. Schrader had been circulating petitions to obtain the requisite signatures to be placed on the general-election ballot prior to the convention. Because he was applying through the independent-petition procedure, Schrader needed to collect at least 1,876 valid signatures, a number equal to one percent of the voters who participated in the last gubernatorial election in the Seventh Congressional District. Schrader used official nominating-petition forms prepared by the state of Ohio for use by independent candidates. Directly above the Statement of Candidacy heading on each nominating petition, however, Schrader typed this additional statement: James A. Schrader is the nominee of the Libertarian Party. On April 29, 1998, Schrader submitted petitions containing 3,168 signatures to the Clark County Board of Elections. 14 Because Schrader met the requirements of the independent-petition procedure, the Board of Elections placed him on the ballot as an independent candidate. On July 30, 1998, Schrader sent a letter to Bob Taft, then the Ohio Secretary of State, requesting that Schrader receive the voting cue of Libertarian on the general-election ballot. Schrader duly noted in his letter that the state had failed to amend the relevant portion of Ohio Revised Code § 3505.03, despite its having been declared unconstitutional by Rosen. Secretary Taft did not respond to Schrader's request. Schrader, Wilson, and the Libertarian Party of Ohio then filed a complaint on August 19, 1998 in the district court, requesting injunctive and declaratory relief. 15 After Schrader filed an amended complaint, both parties moved for summary judgment. On September 28, 1998, the district court entered a preliminary injunction directing the Secretary of State to place the designation Libertarian after Schrader's name on the ballot. Schrader received 9,146 votes, or 5.09 percent of the votes cast in the race for the Seventh Congressional District, with the voting cue of Libertarian appearing on the general-election ballot in November of 1998. 16 Following the election, the district court allowed the parties to file supplemental briefs and renewed motions for summary judgment. Determining that the issue was not moot, because it was capable of repetition, yet evading review,Rosen v. Brown, 970 F.2d 169, 173 (6th Cir. 1992), the district court entered an order granting Schrader's motion for summary judgment and denying Ohio's motion. The district court concluded that Ohio's denial of a partisan voting cue for Schrader, and for other candidates like Schrader who are members of unqualified political parties, is a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. 17 In this appeal, the Ohio Secretary of State contends that the district court erred in holding that the reenacted version of Ohio Revised Code § 3505.03 is unconstitutional. Ohio specifically argues that the Sixth Circuit precedent of Rosen does not extend to this case, because the state's interests in regulating political-party candidates is inherently greater than its interests in regulating independent candidates. Furthermore, Ohio maintains that its legitimate interest in regulating elections and controlling the recognition of political parties outweighs any encroachment on the associational and equal protection rights of Schrader and the Libertarian Party of Ohio.