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Senator Bernie Sanders sued Ohio’s top elections official, Secretary of State Jon A. Husted, in federal court on Tuesday arguing that Mr. Husted “arbitrarily” discriminated against young black and Latino voters by not allowing 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the general election to vote in Ohio’s primary next week.

At least 20 states allow 17-year-olds to participate in presidential primaries or caucuses if they will be 18 on Election Day in November, according to FairVote, a voting-rights advocacy group. In December, Mr. Husted, a Republican, said that under state election law, 17-year-olds could vote in nominating contests but not elections, and thus a presidential primary was off-limits since voters will be electing delegates to the party conventions.

“I welcome this lawsuit,” Mr. Husted said in a statement, “and I am very happy to be sued on this issue because the law is crystal clear.”

The lawsuit was filed in Federal District Court in Columbus. In a statement Tuesday night, Mr. Sanders, whose major strength has been among younger voters, claimed that Mr. Husted was carrying out an “unconstitutional attempt to block young voters” and was discriminatory because federal census data shows that young voters “are more heavily African-American and Latino than older groups of voters.” (The lawsuit did not cite the actual data.)

Nina Turner, a former state senator in Ohio and a Sanders supporter who unsuccessfully ran against Mr. Husted for secretary of state, said Ohio law was clear that 17-year-olds may vote in presidential primaries.

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