COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Ohio Elections Commission on Thursday dismissed complaints by the Libertarian Party of Ohio and Ohio Green Party that claimed their candidates for governor were wrongfully excluded from this year’s three gubernatorial debates.

The commission voted, without comment or opposition, to find that no violation occurred, according to Phil Richter, the commission’s executive director.

By failing to invite Libertarian Travis Irvine and Green Constance Gadell-Newton, the complaints alleged, the debate organizers violated federal regulations that prohibit debate organizers from excluding candidates arbitrarily or because of their party affiliation.

The complaints also claimed that because the DeWine and Cordray campaigns helped organize the televised debates, the events should be considered illegal campaign contributions.

The Libertarians and Greens filed two complaints each against the campaigns of Republican Mike DeWine and Democrat Richard Cordray, as well as the organizers of the three debates at the University of Dayton, Marietta College and Cleveland State University.

The Cleveland debate was sponsored by the Ohio Debate Commission, a group of more than 50 media outlets, scholarly institutions and civic organizations formed to organize political debates in Ohio. Its founders include the City Club of Cleveland and cleveland.com/Advance Ohio.

Asked to comment about the commission’s ruling, Libertarian Party of Ohio spokesman David Jackson said, “The legal duopoly showed that it protects itself.”

Jackson said the Libertarians aren’t planning to appeal the commission’s decision to a state court, as they expect the judicial system will also be biased in favor of the two major parties.

Both the Libertarian Party of Ohio and the Ohio Green Party lost state recognition after neither of their gubernatorial candidates got the required 3 percent of the vote. DeWine ended up winning the Nov. 6 election with about 51 percent of the vote.