CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — An appellate court has vacated a federal judge’s ruling that the way candidates are placed on ballots in West Virginia is unconstitutional.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Wednesday found that U.S. District Judge Chuck Chambers erred last year when he ordered West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner to establish a new way to determine the order that candidates appear on ballots during the state’s elections, news outlets reported.
Warner appealed and the latest ruling sends the case back to Chambers in the Southern District of West Virginia.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Dakota Nelson. The Democratic Party candidate for the state House seat in District 16 challenged a state law that says the political party whose candidate for president “received the highest number of votes at the last preceding presidential election is to be placed in the left, or first column, row or page.”
Chambers had ruled that it was a partisan provision, but the appellate panel said there was no evidence of partisan discrimination.
