Tuesday, August 25, 2015
and Ed Runyan
YOUNGSTOWN
Two candidates who lost Democratic primaries for city council seats are among four who filed to run as write-ins for the Youngstown school board.
There are four school board seats up for grabs in the Nov. 3 election and only three candidates – incumbents Brenda Kimble and Michael J. Murphy, and newcomer Corrine Sanderson – filed by the Aug. 5 deadline to get their names on the ballot.
Four others filed by Monday’s deadline to be write-in candidates.
Their names won’t appear on the ballot, but there will be a line where voters can write in their names for a school board seat.
Only those who officially filed as write-ins have votes for them counted.
It’s more difficult to win an election as a write-in compared with having a candidate’s name on the ballot, so it’s likely only one of the write-ins will win a seat.
The write-in candidates are:
Rick Alli, who received 28.4 percent of the vote in May during a failed bid in the Democratic primary for the city’s 3rd Ward council seat.
Dario Hunter, who received 3 percent support from Democratic voters in the primary for the 6th Ward council seat.
Tina Cvetkovich, who tried to file for the seat on the Aug. 5 deadline. She didn’t turn in nominating petitions because of problems with the documents that would have left her short of the required number of signatures to get on the ballot.
Tyrone Peakes II, whose father is an independent candidate for the 6th Ward council seat.
Also filing as a write-in is Struthers Mayor Terry Stocker, a Democrat who decided not to run for re-election earlier this year.
“I had some health issues, but I feel better now,” he said. “I’ve been getting a lot of inquires from people wanting me to run, so I decided to change my mind.”
Stocker, a two-term mayor, said it will be “difficult” to win as a write-in candidate.
“It’s going to be a challenge to win as a write-in, but I thought it was something I needed to do,” he said.
Already on the ballot are Democrat Danny Thomas Jr., and two independent candidates – Richard DeLuca and Richard Sheeler.
Another incumbent mayor in Mahoning County is running as a write-in, but will have a much easier time getting elected.
Poland Village Mayor Timothy D. Sicafuse had filed to run for re-election as an independent, but had problems with his nominating petitions. He withdrew before the board of elections could disqualify him.
Because of that, Sicafuse is allowed to run as a write-in, and no one else is seeking that seat.
Also running unopposed as write-in candidates for positions they currently hold are David Engler for the county educational service center board and Mark Halls for a seat on the Western Reserve school board.
In Trumbull County, there are two write-in candidates for mayor of Niles, a city in state fiscal emergency.
The write-ins are five-term Councilman Ed Stredney, and Barry Profato, a former councilman and clerk of courts.
Former Councilman Thomas Scarnecchia won the Democratic primary beating 24-year incumbent Ralph Infante in the primary.
Juanita A. Lewis, meanwhile, 71, who has never held political office, says she’s running as a write-in for Girard mayor because she’s got questions as to why it seems that her Parkwood neighborhood on the south side of town has gotten “nothing,” in spite of grants the city has acquired.
Longtime Girard Mayor James Melfi, a Democrat, is seeking re-election.