43
Petition problems keep man off ballot
YOUNGSTOWN
The 7th District Court of Appeals refused to overturn a Mahoning County Board of Elections decision to disqualify the candidacy of Louis Chine Jr., an Austintown Board of Education member, on the Nov. 8 ballot.
The court’s decision Monday leaves only two candidates running for two seats on the board of education in Austintown. The election is two weeks away.
Chine’s attorney, Robert J. Rohrbaugh II, filed a request for a writ of mandamus with the court Sept. 27, 38 days after the board told Chine that he didn’t have enough valid signatures on nominating petitions to run for re-election this year.
The problems with Chine’s nominating petitions were miscounts of the number of signatures on the documents.
Under state law, the number of signatures on a petition must match the number written on the petition by the person circulating the form in order for the signatures to be considered valid.
The legal action focused on one petition with 16 signatures. Chine wrote there were only 15 signatures on that petition. He said that was because a 16th signature was not in the designated area to sign names so he didn’t count it.
Citing case law, the court wrote Chine would have been in compliance if he crossed off the name of the invalid signature before submitting the petition to the elections board. As a result, all of the signatures on the petition were ruled invalid.
“I thought I did everything I could to comply with the law,” Chine said. “How is it proper to cross off someone’s name on a legal document? Why are they penalizing me for something as silly as this? It’s a travesty I’m being crucified for not counting one name on a petition that wasn’t in the allotted space.”
He needed 25 valid signatures, but the board ruled he had only 19.
The court also wrote that Chine took too long to file his case after being disqualified by the board. The ruling didn’t list a specific deadline Chine should have met.
Chine said he spent weeks attempting to deal with elections-board officials, who provided him with no help.
“The board of elections wouldn’t address this issue with me in a timely manner,” he said. “It was a game with the board of elections to have me chase my tail.”
Left with no other choice, Chine said he filed legal action.
Mark Munroe, the board’s vice chairman, said the disqualification was “a cut-and-dry issue,” and that board officials had told Chine to go to court immediately.
While the court sorted out this matter, the board of elections included Chine’s name on early-voting ballots. Votes for Chine will not be counted by the board.
Chine was actively campaigning for re-election with several yard signs throughout the township.
“None of this makes sense to me,” Chine said. “I did everything proper to run.”
Without Chine, the two candidates for two seats are: David W. Ritchie, running for his 12th-consecutive four-year term; and Harold Porter, who unsuccessfully ran for township trustee in 2001 and for the school board in 2005.