ANTONE'S Restaurant drops suit over ballot

Residents approved the liquor option with the correct ballot language.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Antone's Paninos and Pasta dropped a lawsuit against the Mahoning County Board of Elections chairman over ballot language that held up a liquor permit for the Boardman restaurant.
Residents in the township's Precinct 27 approved a liquor option in November 2003 by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.
But the ballot language included only the words beer, wine and mixed beverages, and failed to include the term intoxicating liquor. Because of the omission, the Ohio Division of Liquor Control refused to grant the Boardman-Canfield restaurant a license to sell any liquor there.
The restaurant filed a lawsuit against Mark Munroe, the elections board chairman, asking a judge to compel him to certify the results of the option election and to amend the ballot language to correct it after the vote.
Response
Munroe said he couldn't legally do that because it would violate state law. Also, he said it wasn't fair to blame him when it was the restaurant's owner that made the error in the ballot language. The restaurant said the elections board should have caught the error before certifying the liquor option and placing it in front of voters.
The restaurant put the liquor option -- with the correct language -- on the March primary ballot. Voters approved it by a vote of 127-to-76. It passed 124-to-73 in November 2003.
Because voters approved the liquor option in March, Antone's voluntarily dropped the lawsuit Monday.
skolnick@vindy.com