Ohio Will Keep Four Alternative Parties on 2010 Ballot

Reported in Ballot Access News:

Because Ohio has no valid law in place on how a group becomes a qualified party, and because no bill to create a valid law is close to passing, the Ohio Secretary of State will leave the Constitution, Green, Libertarian, and Socialist Parties on the ballot for the 2010 election. Those four parties were also on the ballot in Ohio in 2008.

However, because the Ohio Constitution requires all ballot-qualified parties to nominate by primary, these parties must choose their nominees in a primary in May 2010. Candidates running for public office in primaries need their own petitions. For qualified minor parties, statewide candidates need 500 signatures to get on their own party’s primary ballot. Candidates running for U.S. House or state legislature or partisan county office need 25 signatures. Those petitions are due on February 18, 2010. The requirement for a primary was waived in 2008 because the four parties put on the ballot did not get on the ballot (via court order) until after the March 2008 primary was over.

Although HB 260 has passed the House, it has made no headway in the Senate. That bill sets out petition requirements for parties to get on the ballot. If that bill had passed already, minor parties would need 10,057 signatures to get on the 2010 ballot. But, obviously, no one can expect any party to fulfill a requirement that doesn’t exist yet.