Ohio Senate Passes New Rules for Minor Political Parties

The Ohio Senate voted 22-11 on Tuesday to pass legislation that would set new rules for minor political parties in Ohio.

A Senate committee reported the fast-tracked legislation on Tuesday morning after adding an emergency clause and making some changes to make it easier for minor parties to win ballot access.

However, Libertarian and Green party officials renewed complaints that the reforms would make it extremely difficult for them to participate in next year’s elections.

The legislation, Senate Bill 193, would relax vote thresholds for minor parties to be recognized by the state, and it would push back the deadline for parties to submit paperwork for a general election.

Sen. Bill Seitz, the Cincinnati Republican sponsoring the bill, has said the legislation is needed as state rules governing minor parties have been in limbo since a federal court held in 2006 that they were overly restrictive.

Since then, the state has continued to recognize four minor parties: the Libertarians, the Green Party, the Constitution Party, and the Socialist Party.

Seitz said on the Senate floor that new rules are needed to ensure recognized political parties have some proof of support. He said the current situation is like the “wild, wild West.

But state Libertarian Party leaders said the timing of the legislation is designed to sabotage the chances of their gubernatorial candidate, Charlie Earl, against incumbent Republican Gov. John Kasich.

If the bill passes, the Libertarians and other minor parties would have only a few months to get the approximately 56,000 voter signatures needed to re-form as a party. They would then have to further collect a modest amount of additional signatures for individual candidates to get on the ballot.

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