It is amazing that the Ohio Secretary of State’s office is so careless that it would say the decision came from the Ohio Supreme Court. That is a factual mistake. The decision came from the U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th circuit. The 6th circuit includes not only Ohio, but Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky. The decision makes it fairly plain that the Tennessee law on how political parties get on the ballot is also unconstitutional. The case against the Tennessee law was filed in January 2008 and is still pending.

Here is the response:
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A little back information for you. The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that the laws governing ballot access in Ohio are unconstitutional. The General Assembly has not created any new law that addresses this situation. Therefore, our office drafted a procedure for party access. This however, was found unenforceable by the courts as well because the Secretary of State cannot create law. In the end, the four minor parties were granted access to the 2008 ballot by either court order or agreement with the individual party. The theory is if they are denied access in 2009, more lawsuits will be filed with the same outcome. So, as to not accrue more legal costs, the same four parties will be granted access in 2009. We hope that part of the elections reform bill currently being drafted address this situation.”