On March 7, Socialist Party presidential candidate Brian Moore filed a lawsuit in federal court against an Ohio restriction on petitioning. Moore v Brunner, case number not known yet. The lawsuit attacks an Ohio law that makes it illegal for someone who is not a registered voter in Ohio, to circulate for an independent candidate.

Ralph Nader had filed a similar lawsuit in 2004, but the federal courts in Ohio refused to adjudicate the issue for his lawsuit, since the 2004 judges believed that Nader had used out-of-state petitioners, in defiance of the law. Moore won’t have that problem, since he hasn’t started petitioning in Ohio.

Ohio law, taken as a whole, is irrational. It is legal for out-of-staters to circulate a new party petition in Ohio, so there can’t possibly be any defense for imposing residency rules for circulators for independent candidates. Furthermore, Ohio even forces the independent candidate circulators not only to be residents, but to be registered voters in Ohio. In 1999 the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down laws requiring circulators to be registered voters.