Ceci petitions disqualified, fracking ban amendment placed on ballot

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County Board of Elections has disqualified Pete Ceci’s petitions to be a county commissioner candidate, leaving Carol Rimedio-Righetti, the incumbent Democrat, without a primary opponent.

The board voted 4-0 Tuesday, after a three-plus-hour hearing, to invalidate a petition for Ceci with 14 valid signatures on it because Danielle M. Hamill of Youngstown, who collected the names, testified that she didn’t witness the signings of the number of signatures on the petitions in the “circulator’s affidavit” portion of the document. The board considered that an error that disqualified those signatures.

Also Tuesday, the board certified a Youngstown citizen-initiative charter amendment to ban fracking in the city for the May 6 ballot.

For the full story, read Wednesday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.