The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled against members of the committee that nominated Libertarian presidential candidate, Gary Johnson, and his running mate, Bill Weld, to be on the ballot as independent candidates last fall.
Five different members of the Libertarian party who put Johnson and Weld on the statewide ballot as independent candidates wanted the Secretary of State’s office to recognize the Libertarian party as a political party on future ballots since the candidates got more than three percent of the vote in November 2016 election.
After all, Ohio law says political parties can be listed on future ballots if their candidates maintain 3 percent of the vote in elections.
But in this case, Johnson and Weld were nominated as Independent candidates on Ohio’s ballot without any political party affiliation. But the Ohio Supreme Court said because the candidates were nominated as independent candidates, without any political-party affiliation, they do not qualify to retain party ballot access.
