Fracking foes sue Ohio elections chief over ballot ruling

COLUMBUS (AP) — Residents of Fulton, Medina and Athens counties have sued Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted after he invalidated ballot proposals related to the oil-and-gas drilling technique of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund helped the residents file suit Wednesday in the Ohio Supreme Court.

They’re challenging Husted’s decision to remove from Nov. 3 ballots a series of “community rights county charters” that contain bans on fracking-related infrastructure projects. Those include injection wells for disposing of wastewater created in the fracking process.

Responding to protests lodged against the measures, Husted said each proposal tried to circumvent state law in a way that courts have ruled violates the Ohio Constitution.

The suit alleges he violated residents’ guaranteed right to initiative.