The Ohio Supreme Court says that the Mahoning County Board of Elections exceeded its authority when it denied an anti-fracking charter amendment a spot on the Youngstown ballot this fall.

The justices ruled on Thursday that county election officials did not have the authority to determine the legality of the “Community Bill of Rights,” which would ban the controversial oil and gas well drilling known as fracking within Youngstown city limits.

The elections board claimed that state law already grants the Ohio Department of Natural Resources the responsibility of regulating oil and gas drilling in the state.

In challenging the board of elections decision, the city had also challenged Secretary of State Jon Husted’s authority to keep the issue from being placed before voters.

However, the court ruled that since Husted has not yet acted to keep the amendment off the ballot, any action by the court at this time would be premature.

Just one day before, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled against three Ohio counties seeking ballot spots for so called “community rights charter” saying they failed to meet the requirements for charter initiatives.

The justices ruled in that case that Secretary of State Husted does not have the authority to decide whether or not such charter amendments are legal.

Like the Mahoning County Board of Elections, Husted argued that the state regulates of oil and gas drilling.

It remains to be seen if the Secretary of State moves to deny the bill of rights a place on the ballot.

The amendment has appeared before Youngstown voters four times before.  Each time it was defeated.