Election-board error costs 2 their eligibility

One disqualified Youngstown council-president candidate is considering a lawsuit against the board.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — A mistake by the Mahoning County Board of Elections cost candidates for Youngstown mayor and city council president their eligibility to run as independents.

Some board employees were under the incorrect impression that an independent candidate for a Youngstown citywide race needs only 25 valid signatures on nominating petitions to be eligible. The board would not identify the employees who gave out the incorrect information.

They actually need at least 138 valid signatures, an amount equal to a minimum of 1 percent of the total votes cast in the previous gubernatorial general election.

Because of the mistake, the board Wednesday disqualified Joe Louis Teague of Alameda Avenue as a candidate for council president.

“It was not my fault,” he told the board. “I did what I had to do. I feel I’ve been shafted.”

Teague said he is considering suing the board.

Board members were apologetic for the error.

Disqualifying candidates “is one of the most uncomfortable and distasteful things we do as a board, but we are required to do it,” said Mark Munroe, the board’s vice president.

Board members said they are bound by state law to disqualify candidates who don’t meet the minimum signature requirement — regardless of incorrect information provided by their employees.

“If I was told the right number of signatures, I could have gotten them in 15 minutes,” Teague said. “This is wrong. I deserve to be on the ballot.”

Board Director Thomas McCabe agreed with Teague that he should be on the ballot.

“We need a change in the law,” he said. “I think a candidate should be allowed to be on the ballot if we [at the board] make a mistake.”

Teague can’t run as a write-in for council president because he refused to withdraw his candidacy before being disqualified, McCabe said.

If he had withdrawn before being disqualified Teague could have run as a write-in for council president under state law, McCabe said.

Cecil B. Monroe of Highlawn Avenue was going to be disqualified Wednesday as a Youngstown mayoral candidate.

But Monroe withdrew his nominating petitions before the board could disqualify him and plans to run as a write-in against Mayor Jay Williams.

Calvin Hill Sr. of Lilburne Drive, a retired city sanitation department employee, has already filed the paperwork needed to run as a write-in candidate for mayor.

Sept. 2 is the write-in deadline for candidates running in the November general election.

skolnick@vindy.com