Fired Montgomery County Board of Elections members Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie Sr. will not return to their BOE seats for the Nov. 6 election, as a federal district court judge on Thursday overruled their request for a preliminary injunction immediately reinstating them.

Judge Walter H. Rice wrote in his decision that Lieberman and Ritchie “have failed to establish a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims and have failed to establish irreparable harm” — two of the tests for receiving the injunction.

In August, Democrats Lieberman and Ritchie voted to keep Montgomery County’s previously established weekend voting hours, two days after Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted issued a directive setting weekday-only hours. Lieberman and Ritchie argued that Husted’s directive was vague, but Husted fired them when they refused to rescind their votes.

Denying the preliminary injunction does not end the case. Husted has filed a motion to dismiss, and Rice scheduled a conference call for Nov. 13, one week after Election Day.

Lieberman and Ritchie, who have been BOE members since 2001 and 1995, respectively, said they are not certain whether they will continue to fight. Lieberman said at this point it might be better to let their BOE replacements — John Doll and former Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin — learn the ropes now, and added that he doesn’t think he could work under Husted anymore.

“The law in the United States is pretty much against (preliminary injunctions) happening,” Lieberman said. “(Judge Rice) did not in his opinion anywhere justify what Jon Husted did as right … by terminating us.”

Husted applauded the decision, calling it a victory for accountability.

“Rules must be followed, and I will continue to hold individuals accountable who fail to do so,” Husted said.

Ritchie said he wishes he could have finished out his term. But he pointed to two recent federal court rulings against Husted — reinstating early voting on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before Election Day — as validating the stand he and Lieberman took.

“There was one mission here, and that was to give the voters of Montgomery County and the voters of Ohio the opportunity to vote as often as they did in 2008,” Ritchie said. “I’m happy that at least there will be some weekend early voting opportunities. And I think there was a helping hand based on what Dennis and I did.”

Rice concluded in his ruling that Lieberman and Ritchie would be unlikely to prove that their firing violated their due process, first amendment and equal protection rights under the Constitution. He also wrote that they “have not yet identified which state constitutional provisions or which employment laws were allegedly violated” to support a wrongful termination claim.

Rice wrote that one point in the BOE members’ favor was their claim that it is in the public interest to have people of their experience and expertise on the board in a presidential election year, rather than newly appointed replacements.

Asked about that point Thursday, Husted strongly disagreed.

“The evidence so far is that the previous board was less competent than the current board because they were unable to follow the most basic rules of conducting their duties,” Husted said. “Experienced people that refuse to follow the law are not of value.”

Lieberman fired back, saying Rice’s ruling never said he and Ritchie violated the law, and pointing again to the rulings on final-weekend voting.

“I would suggest to (Husted) that he look at the federal court decisions which have said that he has not followed the law, that he has violated the constitution,” Lieberman said. “I think he probably ought to look in the mirror before he starts throwing around those types of allegations.”

Both Lieberman and Republican BOE member Greg Gantt expressed confidence in the ability of Doll and McLin to get over a steep learning curve. Lieberman said he’ll make himself available to the pair and expressed confidence that Gantt and Republican BOE member Kay Wick will help as well.

Gantt pointed out that before newcomers Doll and McLin would have to rule on any controversial issue, it will have gone through both Republican and Democrat BOE staff members. He added that they could lean on a 22-year veteran, in Democratic BOE Deputy Director Steve Harsman, for institutional knowledge and advice.

“I know people don’t believe this but we really try so hard to check our political hats at the door and do what’s best of the election process,” Gantt said. “John’s a very capable lawyer, and Rhine’s been in politics her whole life. … They know the game.”