Sanders Campaign Scores Win Against Ohio Secretary Of State Jon Husted In Young Voter Challenge

Bernie Sanders just got a big win in Ohio today. On March 8, the Sanders campaign filed suit against Ohio’s top election official, Secretary of State Jon A. Husted, alleging that he discriminated against young black and Latino voters. Sanders alleged this because Husted had banned 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the general election from voting in the Ohio primary.

On Friday, Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Frye ruled against Husted, effectively re-instating the state’s rule allowing those who will be 18 years old by election day to vote in the primaries.

Husted had tried to justify his reasoning to disallow 17-year-olds from voting in the primaries.

“In presidential primary elections, a 17-year-old voter is not permitted to vote for presidential delegates, because delegates are elected and not nominated.”

This logic obviously did not fly with Judge Frye, who reversed Husted’s rule. For his part, Husted’s office has said he will appeal the decision, and the Ohio Secretary of State had harsh words for Frye.

“This last minute legislating from the bench on election law has to stop. Our system cannot give one county court the power to change 30 years of election law for the entire state of Ohio, 23 days into early voting and only four days before an election.”

The problem is, 17-year-old voters have previously been permitted to participate in presidential primaries. Husted has effectively attempted to nullify current law through his own unique interpretation.

Bernie Sanders wins case to allow 17-year-olds votehttps://t.co/XkPswjxIi7#WeAreBernie #FeelTheBern
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— PlanetaryDoggo? (@Rich_fxdump) March 12, 2016

The question is, will this legal challenge find a solution by March 15? It appears that Husted doesn’t really have a leg to stand on concerning existing law, as it states clearly who can and cannot vote in primary elections. Chapter 3505 of the Ohio Revised Code leaves little room for interpretation.

“At a primary election every qualified elector who is or will be on the day of the next general election eighteen or more years of age, and who is a member of or is affiliated with the political party whose primary election ballot he desires to vote, shall be entitled to vote such ballot at the primary election.”

In a separate case, the Bernie Sanders campaign filed a lawsuit on the federal level regarding the law. The federal judge put a pause on the Sanders suit while it awaited the results from the state court.

According to the New York Times, former Ohio state senator Nina Turner, who is stumping for Bernie Sanders, reflected on Husted’s unique interpretation of the existing law.

“We should be encouraging young people to get involved in elections, not shutting them out.”

On Friday, Sanders held two rallies in two different states. He first appeared in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he attracted an overflow crowd. At Memorial Auditorium he spoke to a full-capacity crowd of 2,300, but Sanders still took the time to address the crowd that could not get in. In North Carolina, Sanders continues to trail Clinton by about 24 points, which is virtually the same percentage she led him in Michigan before his surprise upset on March 8.

Later in the day, the Vermont senator flew to Ohio, where he addressed a crowd of about 2,500 in Toledo. In Toledo, a surprise awaited the crowd. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) introduced Bernie Sanders prior to his speech. According to the Toledo Blade, she broke ranks with the Ohio Democratic Congressional delegation to endorse Sanders, while her peers have endorsed Clinton.

In addition to Judge Frye’s favorable ruling against Husted, and Kaptur’s surprise endorsement, Sanders won the support of Baldemar Velasquez, the labor leader for Mexican-American farm workers who is also a member of the board of trustees of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority.

Tuesday is especially important for the Sanders campaign: four delegate-rich states hold their Democratic primaries, including North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Illinois, and Missouri. Should Sanders win any one of these states, he will remain competitive in going into the more liberal states of California and New York later this spring.

[Photo: Scott Olson/Getty]