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RICHMOND, VA (AP) -- A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that kept a South Carolina Green Party candidate off the general election ballot.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the state's "sore-loser statute" was properly applied to Eugene Platt in a 2008 state House election.

Platt was nominated by both the Green Party and the Working Families Party. But he lost a Democratic Party primary, which precluded him from appearing on the ballot. The Green Party said the disqualification violated its constitutional rights of association.

But the appeals court said it was Platt's decision to run in Democratic primary, not any interference by the Democratic Party, that affected the Green Party's ability to put its preferred candidate on the ballot.

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