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US Supreme Court Declines to Hear Ohio Libertarians’ Lawsuit

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined without comment to hear a long-running ballot access lawsuit brought by the Libertarian Party of Ohio.

The high court’s action came Monday. It’s a victory for Ohio’s elections chief and a voter sued by Libertarians for their roles in disqualifying Libertarians’ gubernatorial candidate from 2014 fall ballots.

The party sued Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted (HYOO’-sted) and voter Greg Felsoci, alleging they were part of a scheme to selectively enforce Ohio election law to help GOP Gov. John Kasich’s (KAY’-sik’s) re-election bid. At the time, the third-party gubernatorial candidacy of Charlie Earl was seen as potentially drawing votes from Kasich, who later easily won re-election.

The lawsuit alleged improperly singling out the party’s candidates violated the Constitution’s First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause.