 As negotiations for a peaceful resolution of the elections for governor and lieutenant governor were ongoing , the Republican candidates for the state 's minor offices filed suit in federal court in Cincinnati , Ohio , to prevent their removal from office . The case could have been filed in the federal court at Louisville , Kentucky , but Judge Walter Evans asked to be excused from adjudicating the case . The Republican officers , represented by ex @-@ Governor William O 'Connell Bradley and future governor Augustus E. Willson among others , argued that the Goebel Election Law deprived citizens of their right to vote . The right to vote , they claimed , was inherent in the Fourteenth Amendment 's guarantee of " liberty " , and could not be taken from any citizen without due process . 
