U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson in Columbus granted a preliminary injunction against GOP-passed legislation that would have made it more difficult for minor-party candidates to reach the ballot. The ruling allows Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Charlie Earl to be in the November race when Gov. John Kasich seeks re-election.

Gov. John Kasich might have escaped a primary challenge from the right, but a federal judge�s ruling yesterday made it more likely that the Republican governor could face �conservative� competition come November.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson in Columbus granted a preliminary injunction against GOP-passed legislation that would have made it more difficult for minor-party candidates to reach the ballot. The ruling allows Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Charlie Earl to be in the November race when Kasich seeks re-election.

Senate Bill 193, passed two months ago by Republican legislators and signed hours later by Kasich, would have blocked all minor parties from having a primary on May 5 and significantly raised the number of signatures needed for a minor-party candidate such as Earl to reach the ballot.

The law was dubbed by critics as the John Kasich Re-Election Protection Act, based on perceptions that he had angered conservatives over policies such as Medicaid expansion and that some conservatives would drift toward Earl come Nov. 4.

Kasich won election in 2010 by 2 percentage points (roughly 77,000 votes), and likely Democratic nominee Ed FitzGerald works in Democrat-rich Cleveland, so a siphoning of votes in either direction could make a difference.

Because the law would have gone into effect on Feb. 5 � the filing deadline for all primary candidates � Watson ruled that it would violate minor-party candidates� constitutional rights, and he stopped its immediate implementation.

Earl said of its passage: �It was intentional, and it was ludicrous, and the court saw through it.�

In his decision issued yesterday, Watson wrote that the �Ohio legislature moved the proverbial goal post in the midst of the game.�

Watson, an appointee of President George W. Bush, a Republican, ordered Secretary of State Jon Husted to accept minor-party candidates based on Husted�s directive from last year. It essentially granted automatic ballot access to a few recognized minor parties.

Numerous Ohio election laws and directives dealing with minor parties have been ruled unconstitutional since 2006.

With Watson�s ruling, Earl would need to file only 500 signatures by Feb. 5 to qualify for the May 6 primary; he probably then would proceed to the general election.

Both Earl and Republican Sen. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati, who sponsored the bill, believe the judge�s ruling leaves the law in place beginning in 2015, when minor parties would need to collect signatures totaling at least 1 percent of the vote in the prior presidential or governor�s election to reach the ballot.

�All they have done is postponed the day of reckoning,� said Seitz, who also said: �I continue to be amazed that the federal judiciary continues to intervene in every piece of election law we pass, and wonder when it will ever end.�

Tea party leader Ted Stevenot announced late Saturday that he had changed his mind and will not challenge Kasich in the May primary.

Ohio GOP spokesman Chris Schrimpf said the party �always expected minor parties to be on the ballot,� even under the new law.

Schrimpf also said it was �premature� to say what kind of impact Earl would have on the race, given Earl�s support of gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana � stances opposed by social conservatives but embraced by many who might support the Democrat in the race.

jvardon@dispatch.com

@joevardon