GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday against a Democratic activist who sued to stop Michigan's Democratic presidential primary election because the candidate she supports is not on the state primary ballot.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker called the matter a dispute between the state and national Democratic parties.

Earl Erland, a Grand Rapids attorney representing Martha Hayes, a John Edwards backer, initially asked for a halt to the election in the lawsuit filed Dec. 10, saying it would disenfranchise voters whose favorites aren't on the ballot.

On Monday, Erland eased away from that request, asking instead that the judge prohibit the secretary of state's office from certifying the Democratic election results and bar Democrats from using them when selecting delegates for the Democratic National Convention.

"This has all the earmarks of an intraparty dispute," Jonker said before issuing his decision at the end of a two-hour hearing.

Erland said afterward he did not know whether he will appeal the ruling.

"It's hard to imagine Ms. Hayes coming up with anything that is going to change the situation," Andrew Nickelhoff, a Detroit attorney for the Michigan Democratic Party, said outside the courtroom.

Michigan lawmakers moved up the state's presidential primary election to Jan. 15, despite Democratic National Committee rules saying only Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina may hold presidential primaries before Feb. 5.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm and many other Democratic leaders supported the primary move because they said it would make Michigan more relevant in the presidential selection process.

Instead, the DNC's Rules Committee last month stripped Michigan of its 156 national convention delegates as punishment. Michigan Republicans have been stripped of half of their 60 national convention delegates for holding their primary on Jan. 15.

In October, at the DNC's request, Edwards, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Joseph Biden all pulled their names from the state's Democratic primary ballot.

The only Democrats who will appear on the ballot are Hillary Rodham Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel and Christopher Dodd. Both Dodd and Biden dropped out of the presidential race Thursday, after the Iowa caucuses.