In a potential victory for Vermont senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, an Ohio judge has ruled that 17-year-old Ohioans can vote in the Buckeye State’s upcoming primary election.
Ohio already allows all 17-year-olds to vote in congressional, legislative and mayoral primaries – as long as they will be 18 on election day – but the question of whether they can vote in a presidential primary had been unanswered. Nine Ohio teenagers filed a lawsuit over the interpretation of the law by Ohio’s secretary of state, which they claimed was an act of disenfranchisement.
“Plaintiffs are entitled to a judgment that the secretary abused his discretion,” judge Richard Frye of Franklin County said in his ruling, referring to Ohio secretary of state Jon Husted, a Republican who has vowed to appeal the ruling.
“This last minute legislating from the bench on election law has to stop,” Husted said in a statement. “Our system cannot give one county court the power to change 30 years of election law for the entire state of Ohio, 23 days into early voting and only four days before an election.”
“We will appeal this decision because if there is a close election on Tuesday we need clarity from the supreme court to make sure that ineligible voters don’t determine the outcome of an election. No matter the outcome of these disputes, I want 17-year-olds to know that they are eligible to vote on certain races and they should exercise that right,” Husted added.
The ruling, if ultimately successful, is a coup for the Sanders campaign, which enjoys high polling numbers among young voters. In nearby Iowa, Sanders won caucus voters younger than 30 by a ratio of six to one – 84% to 14% – over competitor Hillary Clinton.
