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Liberty, McDonald school boards filled by write-ins
SEE ALSO: West Branch won't have special election
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Stan Watson, Liberty Superintendent, and Kelly Pallante, director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, say they don’t ever remember a school board having three openings all filled in the same election by write-in candidates.
This year Liberty had that, but McDonald had something similar — two seats open and both of them filled by write-ins.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve never seen that before, never ever heard of it where you had three positions,” Watson said.
A person typically runs as a write-in — meaning their name doesn’t appear on the ballot — because they failed to turn in valid petitions and their bid to have their name on the ballot was rejected by the elections board.
In other cases, not enough people run for the open seats, and someone will run as a write-in when they realize no one else wants the position.
The best explanation Watson has for why Liberty had three write-in candidates for all three open seats is that being a board member “takes a lot of time and effort, and folks are busy today, and they don’t see the calling to do it.”
The Liberty district’s financial troubles also put it in fiscal emergency a while back, but it’s got a balanced budget now, and Watson said he doesn’t believe that makes being a Liberty board member more difficult.
The Trumbull County Board of Elections released the vote totals Wednesday for the three write-in winners — Gloria H. Lang the leader with 361 votes, Carmen Faustino second with 358 and Calvin L. Jones third with 193. Lang previously was a board member until a couple of years ago. Jones is a current board member, having been appointed to fill a vacant seat Dec. 10, 2010.
In McDonald, Robert L. Jones Jr. and Joseph Krumpak Jr. received the most votes out of four write-in candidates.
Jones, who received 193 votes to lead the way, and Krumpak, who was second with 172 votes, were joined by write-ins Brian D. Fisher and Tegan L. Stitt.
One race on Tuesday’s ballot — for Warren Township trustee — involved a tie between Robert Bush and Phillip Fletcher, who both had 291 votes, the second-highest vote total behind Kay Anderson.
Pallante said there are up to three absentee ballots and up to 10 provisional ballots yet to be counted in the race.
The Trumbull County Board of Elections meets next Friday to review those ballots and approve or deny them based on whether they meet requirements. If there is a tie, a coin flip will decide the outcome.
The final certification of the votes will take place at a Nov. 25 meeting.