COLUMBUS, Ohio—A federal judge has sided against two would-be Libertarian statewide candidates challenging their removal from next month's general election ballot.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson on Friday upheld the disqualification of gubernatorial hopeful Charlie Earl and would-be attorney general candidate Steve Linnabary on the technicality that some of their paid petition signature collectors didn't disclose who employed them, as required by state law.

Earl said Friday night that Libertarian Party leaders are "strongly considering" an appeal but haven't made any decision yet.

In their lawsuit, Earl and Linnabary alleged that they were unfairly kicked off the ballot because of pressure from state Republicans who feared Earl would siphon votes from Gov. John Kasich, who's seeking re-election.

But in his ruling, Watson stated that "there is no evidence that political bias affected the outcome" of Secretary of State Jon Husted's ruling to disqualify Earl and Linnabary.

Rather, Watson held, the Libertarians' plight was at least partially "self-inflicted," asserting that at least one signature collector could have sought clarification from state officials about whether he had to list his employer on his petitions.

Linnabary could have made the ballot, Watson stated, if he had argued that the employer requirement didn't apply to the petition circulator because the man was never paid for a significant number of the signatures he collected.

The judge also wrote that "disarray and confusion" could result from ordering the two candidates' names onto the ballot with Election Day less than three weeks away.

Here's Watson's full ruling: