CAMPBELL 2 write-in candidates must wait until November to run for office
Absentee votes for the write-ins won't be counted.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
CAMPBELL -- Two candidates expecting to run as write-ins during the city's Sept. 27 primary runoff will have to wait until the November general election to run.
Campbell Mayor John Dill and Law Director Brian J. Macala alerted the Mahoning County Board of Elections that there has to be at least three candidates in a race before write-in candidates can be on the ballot during the primary. Election officials agree with Dill and Macala.
Only former President William J. Vansuch filed nominating petitions for council president, and incumbent Councilman Lewis F. Jackson Jr. is the lone person to file petitions for the 4th Ward post. Write-in candidates need just one vote in the September primary to get their names on the Nov. 8 general election ballot in Campbell.
Without primaries, F. Anthony Fontes of Creed Circle, who is running for council president, and Tula Ellinos-Delphry, seeking the 4th Ward council seat, will have to run as write-ins during the general election. Traditionally, it is more challenging to win a race as a write-in during a general election than having your name on the ballot.
The top two finishers in Campbell primary run-offs move to the November general election. If there are two names or fewer on the ballot for a seat during the Sept. 27 primary, there is no primary.
"You need more than two candidates to file petitions of candidacy to have a primary," Macala said. "A write-in is not a petition of candidacy so there are no primaries for those two seats."
Absentee ballots sent out
The election board already sent out about 200 absentee ballots with blank lines for the two seats permitting voters to cast ballots for Fontes and Ellinos-Delphry.
Votes in those two races won't be counted, said Thomas McCabe, county election deputy director. Also, any absentee ballots sent will have those two races blacked out, he said.
Fontes wasn't pleased with this discovery Tuesday, saying he spoke to county election employees Monday and was told he'd be a write-in candidate in the primary. Ellinos-Delphry couldn't be reached Tuesday to comment.
Frank D. Tofil of Tenney Avenue is running as a write-in for mayor in the Sept. 27 primary. That's because there are three candidates whose names will appear on the ballot for that position: Dill, council President Robert P. Yankle and former Councilwoman Juanita Rich.
The top two finishers in the mayoral primary will meet in the Nov. 8 general election.
skolnick@vindy.com