Court reinstates suit over California ballot party listing

A U.S. appeals court has revived a lawsuit challenging California's restriction on the political party preference that candidates can list on ballots.

The state currently allows one of six political parties to appear next to candidates' names as their party preference.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in 2-1 ruling that the rule imposed more than a slight burden on a candidate's rights. It reversed a lower court decision dismissing the case.

A spokesman for the California secretary of state's office, Sam Mahood, declined comment.

The lawsuit was brought by Emidio Soltysik, who wanted to list his party preference as "Socialist Party USA. He was instead listed as having no party preference because the Socialist Party wasn’t a qualified party listing.