YOUNGSTOWN COUNCIL I'll keep running, candidate says

Her opponent promises the race will 'get ugly before it gets better.'
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Republican running for city council's 6th Ward seat, whose eligibility is being challenged in a lawsuit filed by her Democratic opponent, said her candidacy is legitimate, and was never told otherwise by the Mahoning County Board of Elections.
"I'm going to keep running until I hear otherwise," said Republican JoAnn Collier in her first interview about her eligibility.
Clarence Boles, her Democratic opponent, filed the lawsuit Aug. 27 asking the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to order the county board of elections to remove Collier's name from the November ballot. With the election less than two months away, Boles said he is concerned that the court system isn't showing a sense of urgency to resolve this matter.
County election board officials admit they erred when they permitted Collier to withdraw her candidacy for the council seat as a Democrat and to refile as a Republican. Raymond Butler, an elections board employee, wrote Collier a letter Feb. 10 stating her petition was going to be disqualified because of "several critical errors." Butler gave her a number of options, but specifically wrote that she couldn't refile as a party candidate for the council seat.
Asked about options
Butler gave the letter to Collier, who asked about her options after being told she would be disqualified. Butler and other election officials then called the Ohio Secretary of State's Office to double-check her options. Mahoning County election officials say the state office told them Collier could run as a Republican; the secretary of state's spokesman said that is not the case.
Collier said she got a verbal OK from Butler to run, and doesn't remember the letter that states she can't seek the office as a Republican after first filing as a Democrat.
Because the deadline to object to Collier's candidacy has passed, she will remain on the ballot unless a judge rules that the elections board has to remove here.
"This is going to get ugly before it gets better if she doesn't quit," Boles said. "She should do the correct and civil thing and resign. I don't buy that she was a naive participant."
Collier said the lawsuit is somewhat of a distraction, but she is staying focused on the race.
"He didn't expect the competition would be so stiff," she said of Boles. "He wants this position so bad, and I stand in his way."
skolnick@vindy.com