17-year-olds can vote in Ohio's presidential primary Tuesday

COLUMBUS (AP) — Seventeen-year-olds who will turn 18 before the fall election can vote in Ohio's presidential primary, a judge ruled today, reversing instructions from the swing state's elections chief just days before the primary and amid early voting.

The state's Republican secretary of state initially vowed to appeal the ruling in the lawsuit, then opted not to fight it after a state appeals court set a hearing for Monday, the day before Ohio's primary election.

Jon Husted said the timing would give his office "no effective way to responsibly make the changes necessary to implement an orderly election."

Husted said he planned to direct the state's 88 county elections boards to comply with the order.

"Our elections system needs more stability and less chaos," he said. "This last-minute legislating from the bench on election law has to stop."

At least 20 other states allow 17-year-olds to vote in presidential primaries or caucuses, though rules sometimes vary based on political party, according to FairVote, an organization that tracks electoral issues.

The ruling could provide a boost for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Younger voters are among his key supporters, and his campaign also filed a federal lawsuit over the policy for 17-year-old voters.

Whether the teens could vote in the presidential primary race has been under dispute in the perennial battleground state, though they were already allowed to decide on congressional, legislative and mayoral contenders.

Husted had said Ohio's rules and constitution didn't permit 17-year-olds to vote for president in the primary, and he didn't allow them to vote in Ohio's last presidential primary, the first elections under his tenure.