Judicial candidate Fred Nelson was declared eligible Monday to run for a seat on Hamilton County Common Pleas court in the Nov. 5 election.

        Mr. Nelson's opponent, Bruce Whitman, filed a protest in August arguing that Mr. Nelson was not qualified for the job because there was no proof he practiced law in Ohio for the six years required by state statute.

        Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell rejected Mr. Whitman's protest Monday, saying such complaints must be filed before the primary election.

        Mr. Blackwell's decision broke a 2-2 tie vote of the Hamilton County Board of Elections, which was divided along party lines on whether Mr. Whitman's complaint should be dismissed.

        Mr. Whitman, a Democrat, said he was disappointed with the decision and would appeal “as soon as possible” to the Ohio Supreme Court.

        Mr. Nelson, the Republican candidate, said the complaint about his eligibility was a distraction that he hopes to put behind him.

        “This was a desperation tactic,” he said. “I'm not going to allow attacks of this sort to distract me from the campaign and the positive message we're trying to put forth.”

        The dispute centers on Mr. Nelson's legal experience in Ohio. He spent much of the late 1980s and early 1990s working in the U.S. Department of Justice and as a legal counsel to the first President Bush.

        But Mr. Nelson said he also spent more than six years working in Hamilton County for a Cincinnati law firm and as a legal counsel to Congressman Steve Chabot.

        In his decision, Mr. Blackwell did not discuss the merits of the complaint against Mr. Nelson.

        Instead, he focused on whether the complaint was filed in a timely manner.

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