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Elections board to review errors on several Trumbull candidates’ petitions
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The Trumbull County Board of Elections has referred the petitions of several candidates hoping to run in the March 15 primary election to the county prosecutor’s office for further review.
The prosecutor will give guidance to the board on whether the petitions meet the requirements under Ohio law and the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office.
Among the candidates are Sean O’Brien of Bazetta, state representative for the 63rd District, who filed petitions seeking the 32nd District state senator position being vacated by Capri Cafaro, a Democrat of Liberty who can’t run again because of term limits.
O’Brien’s petitions are missing the date of the election he’s running for on each page, said Stephanie Penrose, elections board director.
Also referred to the prosecutor’s office were the petitions of Sheriff Thomas Altiere of Howland and Coroner Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk of Warren, both Democrats running for re-election to another term.
In both cases, they used the wrong starting date for the term of office. They both said Jan. 1, 2017, instead of Jan. 2, 2017.
In the petitions for Republican Syreana R. Harris of Girard, hoping to run for county treasurer, the term starts in September 2017, and she indicated it began in January 2017.
In the petitions for David Cook, a Democrat from Warren hoping to run for county commissioner against Dan Polivka, the number of petition signatures entered on one of the pages are hard to read.
Mauro Cantalamessa, a Democrat from Warren, running for his own four-year term as county commissioner, did not check a box on each page indicating that he was running for a full term, even though he filled out the line nearby indicating the term for which he was running.
Cantalamessa was appointed and then won an election to fill the last two years of the term of Paul Helt-zel, who died in office.
Penrose said the elections board will have to decide at a meeting at 3:30 p.m. Monday whether the flaws should prevent any of the candidates from going on the ballot.
Penrose said candidates are eliminated from the ballot if the error on the petitions would have misled the person signing the petition.