TRUMBULL COUNTY Board of elections restores 3 candidates' names to ballot

A candidate for Lakeview school board didn't get restored to the ballot.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Two candidates for boards of education got a surprise Thursday: Their names are going to appear on the November ballot, despite problems with their candidacy petitions that recently got them booted off.
Jimmy Pugh, running for Warren school board, and Benjamin Hayek, candidate for the Hubbard school board, were returned to the ballot by the Trumbull County Board of Elections even though they did not request a review of their cases.
They were returned because of the board's examination of another person's petitions. Mark Spletzer was attempting to run for Newton Township trustee but was removed from the ballot because his petitions did not contain a specific date for the upcoming election.
Instead, Spletzer's petitions contained the wording "next general election," which the elections board ruled last month was in violation of election rules.
Kelly Pallante, elections board director, said Thursday that information she received from the Ohio Attorney General's Office was that such an error was "fatal."
But James Saker, legal counsel for the elections board, said he had researched the issue himself and his opinion is the law does not require "absolute compliance." As long as none of the people signing the petition were being misled about what office the candidate is seeking, the petitions should be allowed, he said.
Two others restored
The board agreed and restored Spletzer's candidacy. But in doing so, board members agreed the candidacies of Pugh and Hayek should also be restored because their error was the same as Spletzer's.
"It's not so much that I'm upset that I can't run for trustee," Spletzer told the elections board before it had decided his case. He said he had "a lot of support" and wanted to get on the ballot for his backers' sake.
Another candidate who attended the meeting, Robert Moody of Cortland, attempting to run for Lakeview Board of Education, did not make it back on the ballot. He later filed to be a write-in candidate.
Moody's petitions contained an incorrect number where the circulator is supposed to state the number of signers on each page.
The petitions of Karen Reel, who was trying to run for Cortland council, were not accepted, despite her request Thursday. Her petitions contained names printed, not signed.
Other decisions
Also in Cortland, the elections board put two local options for liquor permits back on the ballot: Dairy Mart, 238 South High St., for sale of beer, wine and mixed beverages; and one for wine and mixed beverages on Sunday.
Two signatures on Dairy Mart's petitions were disqualified by the elections board earlier but were restored when a Cortland couple came to the meeting and swore under oath that the signatures were theirs.
Randy Pence, whose petitions were previously ruled valid to run for Warren Township trustee, has been removed from the November ballot. He told the elections board he changed his name within the last five years and didn't indicate that to people signing his petitions.