The Bernie Sanders campaign filed a federal lawsuit claiming the Ohio secretary of state is unconstitutionally attempting to block young Latino and black voters from voting in its upcoming presidential primary election.

What You Need to Know: Ohio's Primary & Lawsuit

Ohio will have its Democratic and Republican presidential primaries on March 15. For the main Democratic presidential candidates, Sanders and Hillary Clinton, it's an opportunity to win most of its 143 delegates. But the Sanders campaign, along with six 17-year-old Ohioans, is suing Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, alleging he's discriminating younger voters participating in the presidential primary -- as Ohio does allow 17 year olds to vote in primaries as long as they turn 18 years old when the November general election occurs.

According to the Sanders campaign, Husted said young voters were ineligible to participate in the presidential primary and the campaign believes it discriminates against minorities and violates the Due Process and Equal Protection provisions of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment.

"It is an outrage that the secretary of state in Ohio is going out of his way to keep young people -- significantly African-American young people, Latino young people -- from participating," Sanders said in a statement on March 8.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ohio, seeks an injunctive relief against Husted and noted the state has identified "The only things 17-year-olds can't vote on at the primary are one-time questions on issues like school levies or statewide ballot issues. In addition, 17 year-olds are not permitted to vote on the election of state or county central committee persons." The aforementioned statement, promoted by then-Secretary of State Jennifer Brenner in 2009, does not mention ineligibility to vote in presidential primaries.

"Voters in the presidential primaries do not vote for specific delegates, but instead choose between presidential candidates. Behind the scenes, votes cast for these presidential candidates are treated as votes cast for convention delegates pre-selected by the presidential candidates. The delegate system is hidden from voters by design," the Sanders' lawsuit noted, taking aim at Husted's claim that 17-year-old voters are not permitted to vote for presidential delegates since delegates are elected and not nominated.

The campaign alleges Husted is trying to reduce electoral participation within an age group which has large minority voters.

In a statement on Tuesday, Husted welcomed the lawsuit against him and defended the law.

"I welcome this lawsuit and I am very happy to be sued on this issue because the law is crystal clear. We are following the same rules Ohio has operated under in past primaries, under both Democrat and Republican administrations," said Husted. "There is nothing new here."

"If you are going to be 18 by the November election, you can vote, just not on every issue. That means 17-year-olds can vote in the primary, but only on the nomination of candidates to the General Election ballot. They are not permitted to elect candidates, which is what voters are doing in a primary when they elect delegates to represent them at their political party's national convention, or vote on issues like school, police and fire levies," Husted added.

To read the lawsuit, click here.

Polling in Ohio

Polling data has shown different results between Clinton and Sanders' performance in Ohio, but the common denominator is Clinton leads.

According to CNN and ORC International's latest poll, sampling 294 likely voters between March 2 and March 6, Clinton received 63 percent support to Sanders' 33 percent.

In Quinnipiac University's poll, surveying 521 likely voters between March 2 and March 7, Clinton's lead dropped to single digits. The former secretary of state received 52 percent to the independent Vermont senator's 43 percent.

"It is certainly a long shot, but Ohio is potentially a different situation for Sen. Sanders. With a 52 - 43 percent lead, Secretary Clinton's advantage is impressive, but nowhere as large as the 30 percentage point lead she has in Florida," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. "In both states, the number of undecided voters is smaller than her lead, meaning that to be victorious Sanders has to get all the undecideds and then take Clinton voters away from her."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.