MAHONING COUNTY New boundaries OK'd for precincts

The board will redraw precincts in the rest of the county in time for the Nov. 6 general election.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning County Board of Elections finalized new voting precinct boundaries for the May 8 primary.
The board agreed Monday to reduce the number of precincts in Poland Township from 19, each having about 463 voters each, to 16, each having about 550 voters each.
Also, the board cut the number of precincts in the village of Poland from six, each with an average of 352 voters, to four, each having about 527 voters.
The board wants to eliminate about 100 of the county's 416 voting precincts.
During the past two months, the board reduced the number of voting precincts in Youngstown from 135 to 83 and cut the precincts in Struthers from 20 to 15.
Poland, Youngstown and Struthers are the only communities in the county that will vote during the May 8 primary.
Required by state: The county is required by the state to redraw boundaries to reduce the number of precincts. Each eliminated precinct will save the county about $1,000, elections board officials say.
Board employees will redraw the rest of the county in time for the Nov. 6 general election.
Write-in applications: Also Monday, the board approved a write-in application from Donald P. Connelly of Wick Avenue as a Youngstown mayoral candidate in the May Democratic primary. Connelly was thrown off the ballot by the board earlier this month because he did not have enough valid signatures on his nominating petition.
The board rejected an application to be a write-in candidate from John K. Fockler Jr. of Park Avenue to run as a Struthers councilman-at-large as a Libertarian candidate. The reason is that Libertarian is no longer a recognized party by the state and thus there can be no party primary, said Michael Sciortino, board director.
The Libertarians lost their party status in Ohio last year because Harry Browne, its presidential candidate, failed to obtain 5 percent of the state vote, said James Lee, Ohio Secretary of State spokesman. That 5 percent vote is required under state law to be recognized as a party in the state, Lee said. Browne received 0.3 percent of the vote.