Bernie Sanders Ohio Voters, 17-Year-Olds Can Vote

REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

Ohio judge rules in favor of 17-year-olds wanting to vote - An Ohio judge ruled Friday teenagers celebrating their 18th birthday before November's election are entitled to have their votes for presidential nominees counted in next week's state primary.

"Plaintiffs are entitled to a judgment that the secretary abused his discretion," Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard Frye said in his ruling about Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.

Husted reversed an earlier decision to appeal, saying he would not after hearing the case would only be heard a day before the election, leaving the state little time to properly carry out the election.

"Even if we were to prevail, there is no effective way to responsibly make the changes necessary to implement an orderly election," he said.

Nine teenagers from across the state claimed in a lawsuit this week that Hustle's interpretation of state law that eliminated their voting rights was incorrect.

The judge said his decision affected "potentially thousands of other 17-year-old voters still eager to participate at next week's primary election." He said no secretary of state between 1981 and 2012 had ever adopted the reading of state law he was now overturning.

Husted in December modified the state's election manual to say 17-year-olds are allowed only to nominate candidates but are prohibited from voting for presidential delegates because they are elected, not nominated, according to the lawsuit.

The teenagers argued Husted's interpretation contradicts state law and a previous ruling by the state Supreme Court that allows 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the election to vote in primaries.

Alexis Brossart, a 17-year-old student at Milford High School outside Cincinnati, was excited to vote until she got a letter last week saying she could not pick a presidential nominee.

"I registered in February. Ever since February, I've been excited to vote," Brossart told Reuters.

The attorney for the nine teenagers said they were galvanized when they heard their votes would not count. "It has caused them to think about their voting rights and get more engaged in the process," Rachel Bloomekatz said.

A similar lawsuit filed in federal court by the campaign of Democrat presidential contender Bernie Sanders was halted on Friday when U.S. District Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers stayed the matter until the state court finding.

In the Ohio primary, 66 delegates are at stake for the Republicans and 159 for the Democrats.