Miller v. Lorain County Bd. of Elections, 96-4267

• Decision Date: 02 April 1998
• Docket Number: No. 96-4267,96-4267
• Citation: 141 F.3d 252
• Parties: Mark MILLER, Mark Miller for Congress Committee, Oona Miller, and Peter R. Swendseid, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. LORAIN COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS and Bob Taft, Ohio Secretary of State, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 252

141 F.3d 252

Mark MILLER, Mark Miller for Congress Committee, Oona

Miller, and Peter R. Swendseid, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. LORAIN COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS and Bob Taft, Ohio

Secretary of State, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 96-4267.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued Dec. 3, 1997.

Decided April 2, 1998.

Joseph R. Compoli, Jr., Cleveland, OH, Mark N. Miller (argued and briefed), Greenbelt, MD, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

M. Robert Flanagan (argued and briefed), Office of Prosecuting Attorney, Elyria, OH, for Defendant-Appellee Lorain County Bd. of Elections.

David M. Gormley (argued), Diane R. Richards (briefed), Office of Attorney General of Ohio, Columbus, OH, Catherine P. Palazzolo (briefed), Gallagher, Bradigan, Gams, Pryor & Littrell, Columbus, OH, for Defendant-Appellee Taft.

Before: WELLFORD, NORRIS, and SILER, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

SILER, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs, Mark Miller, the Mark Miller for Congress Committee, Oona Miller, and Peter R. Swendseid (collectively "Miller"), ¹ challenged the constitutionality of Ohio's ballot access scheme. Mark Miller was an independent candidate for United States Congress in 1994. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant, Lorain County Board of Elections ("Board"), and dismissed the case against Bob Taft, the Ohio Secretary of State. For the reasons stated below, we AFFIRM.

I.

In Ohio there are two methods for obtaining access to the general election ballot for the United States Congress. In order to become a political party candidate for election to an office to be nominated through a primary election, a person is required to file a petition that contains at least fifty valid signatures of qualified electors of the political party of which the candidate is a member. Ohio Rev.Code § 3513.05. ²

In order to become an independent candidate for election to an office for which the candidate may be nominated at a primary election, a person is required to file a nominating petition that contains valid signatures of at least one percent of qualified electors voting in the last gubernatorial election who reside within the district, political subdivision or portion thereof where the election is to be held. Ohio Rev.Code § 3513.257. ³

In sum, after filing the required petition, a political party candidate must run in a primary election and win in order to have his or her name placed on the general election ballot. In contrast, an independent candidate, after gathering the required number of signatures for a nominating petition, is automatically placed on the general election ballot.

The petitions both for independents and for political party candidates require: (1) signatures by registered voters who reside within the district, political subdivision or portion thereof in which the election is to be held; (2) addresses that correspond with nominator's addresses on the voter registration cards that are filed with the county boards of elections; (3) genuine signatures; (4) legible signatures; (5) signatures in ink; and (6) a date. Ohio Rev.Code §§ 3501.11, 3501.38, 3513.261, 3513.262, 3513.263.

Miller decided to run for the United States Congress in the Thirteenth Congressional District of Ohio in 1994. As an independent candidate, he was required to gather signatures of one percent of the qualified electors from the district who voted in the 1990 gubernatorial election. In 1990, 163,000 voters within the Thirteenth District voted in the gubernatorial election. However, after 1990, the Thirteenth District was redistricted. It was determined, by extrapolation, that approximately 180,640 voters residing within the district would have voted in the 1990 gubernatorial election. Therefore, Miller was required to obtain 1,807 signatures from qualified voters in the Thirteenth District in order to have his name placed on the general ballot. ⁴

On May 2, 1994, Miller filed a timely statement of candidacy accompanied by a nominating petition containing 1,950 signatures supporting his nomination as an independent candidate for the November 8, 1994, election. The Board sent Miller a letter dated July 12, 1994, which informed him that his petition had been disqualified because it contained insufficient signatures. ⁵ Miller sent the Board a letter dated August 1, 1994, asking it to reconsider and reverse its decision. On August 18, 1994, the Board held a meeting at which Miller challenged his disqualification. After hearing Miller's arguments on the matter, the Board voted to reaffirm Miller's disqualification. It then sent Miller a draft copy of the minutes of the meeting. Miller replied by a letter dated September 12, 1994, notifying the Board that he continued to disagree with their decision, that he requested a re-check of the disqualified signatures, and that he was contemplating equitable relief. ⁶

Miller then filed suit in the Northern District of Ohio requesting a temporary restraining order ("TRO") and a preliminary injunction. He claimed that the signature requirement violated the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as other various constitutional provisions, and that he was not given sufficient due process during the Board meeting to challenge his disqualification. Miller's request for the TRO and injunction were denied. The Board then moved for summary judgment, and Taft moved for a dismissal. Miller opposed these motions, and filed a Rule 56(f) motion requesting additional time for discovery. The magistrate judge issued his Report and Recommendation on September 8, 1995, recommending, inter alia, that summary judgment be granted in favor of the Board and a dismissal granted for Taft on Miller's challenges to the aforementioned Ohio candidacy statutes, but recommended denial of summary judgment with regard to Miller's Due Process claim.

After objections by both sides, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Board and dismissed Taft.

II.

A.

This court reviews the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Hartleip v. McNeilab, Inc., 83 F.3d 767, 774 (6th Cir.1996) (citing E.E.O.C. v. University of Detroit, 904 F.2d 331, 334 (6th Cir.1990)). Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, summary judgment shall be rendered when requested if the evidence presented in the record shows that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In assessing the merits of the motion, this court shall draw all justifiable inferences from the evidence presented in the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Woythal v. Tex-Tenn Corp., 112 F.3d 243, 245 (6th Cir.1997). However, an opponent to a motion for summary judgment may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of his pleadings, but must set forth through competent and material evidence specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. "[T]he mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

B.

Miller claims that Ohio's statutory scheme for placing an independent candidate's name on the general election ballot violates the First Amendment's guarantees of freedom of speech and association, as well as equal protection under the laws as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. He argues that, according to Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780, 789, 103 S.Ct. 1564, 1570, 75 L.Ed.2d 547 (1982):

[A] court must resolve such a challenge by an analytical process that parallels its work in ordinary litigation. It must first consider the character and magnitude of the asserted injury to the rights protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments that the plaintiff seeks to vindicate. It must then identify and evaluate the precise interests put forward by the State as justifications for the burden imposed by the rule. In passing judgment, the Court must not only determine the legitimacy and strength of each of those interests; it also must consider the extent to which those interests make it necessary to burden the plaintiff's rights.

While Miller is correct that this is the appropriate analysis to be used by courts in assessing a challenge such as his, he has failed to present sufficient evidence that the burden imposed by the state, i.e., an increased signature requirement for independent candidates, is not justified by legitimate state interests.

The Supreme Court was faced with a constitutional challenge to a similar statutory scheme in Jenness v. Fortson, 403 U.S. 431, 91 S.Ct. 1970, 29 L.Ed.2d 554 (1971). It described the plaintiffs' attack on the Georgia statutes as follows: ⁷

In this litigation the appellants have mounted their attack upon Georgia's nominating-petition requirement on two different but related constitutional fronts. First, they say that to require a nonparty candidate to secure the signatures of a certain number of voters before his name may be printed on the ballot is to abridge the freedoms of speech and association guaranteed to that candidate and his supporters by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Secondly, they say that when Georgia requires a nonparty candidate to secure the signatures of 5% of the voters before printing his name on the ballot, yet print the names of those who have won nomination in party primaries it violates the Fourteenth Amendment by denying the nonparty candidate the equal protection of the laws.

Id. at 434, 91 S.Ct. at 1972.

The Court analyzed the statutory scheme under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, concluding:

So far as the Georgia election laws are concerned independent candidates ... are wholly free to associate, to proselytize, to speak, to write, and to...