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Sheriff candidate likely to be disqualified
Photo
David Aey
Two other independents are awaiting certification as sheriff candidates.
YOUNGSTOWN — The name of another Mahoning County sheriff’s candidate probably won’t be on the ballot.
County elections officials say John Martynyszyn of Youngstown is expected to be disqualified, most likely at the next board meeting, May 6.
That’s because Martynyszyn voted in the Democratic primary March 4, a day after he filed to run as an independent candidate for sheriff, according to elections board records.
A 2007 opinion from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office on the issue states if a candidate votes in a party primary election after filing as an independent, that person “is not actually unaffiliated, and the candidate’s claim of independence was either not made in good faith or is no longer current.”
Attempts to reach Martynyszyn, a retired corporal with the sheriff’s department, were unsuccessful Wednesday.
Martynyszyn could ask the elections board for a hearing to explain his actions, but that didn’t work for candidates in the same position last year.
In 2007, 16 candidates in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties — including seven in Mahoning — were disqualified because they voted in the partisan primary after filing for elected positions as independents.
Another independent candidate was disqualified by the Mahoning board last year because he served as a Republican central committee member, another no-no for those running as independents.
Those eight candidates in Mahoning last year had already been certified by the elections board that then voted to remove them from the ballot because of the secretary of state’s opinion.
Appeals courts in Mahoning and Trumbull counties upheld the decisions by the respective counties boards of elections to remove the candidates.
The secretary of state’s June 2007 opinion is based on a September 2006 federal appeals court decision that interpreted state law’s definition of an independent candidate.
Before last year’s opinion, the long-standing practice in Ohio was to let candidates run as independents regardless of political affiliation.
Martynyszyn would be the third person disqualified as a candidate for sheriff this year.
Ex-Youngstown police Detective Sgt. Rick Alli was removed as a Democratic candidate because he failed to file the proper paperwork to seek the job.
Sheriff Randall A. Wellington, who’s held the position since August 1999, filed an objection to keep David P. Aey, a former deputy sheriff who lives in Boardman, off the Democratic primary ballot.
Wellington, of Youngstown, said Aey didn’t meet the minimum supervisory or educational requirements to run for sheriff.
The county elections board permitted Aey to stay on the ballot. But the Ohio Supreme Court granted Wellington’s request and a federal judge refused to reinstate Aey as a candidate.
Wellington, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, doesn’t face any Republican opponents in the November general election.
There are two other independent sheriff candidates: Howard Faison of Youngstown, a retired sheriff’s department captain, and James S. Horvath of Boardman, a retired sheriff’s department lieutenant.
The county prosecutor’s office is reviewing paperwork filed by Faison and Horvath to determine if they are eligible to run for sheriff.
The elections board meets May 6 to certify independent candidates. Elections boards in Ohio have until May 16 to certify the candidacy of independents.
skolnick@vindy.com