McKinney withdraws mayoral election complaint

YOUNGSTOWN

Sean McKinney, who filed a lawsuit a month after losing the November election for Youngstown mayor by 201 votes, today withdrew his complaint.

McKinney said he pulled the complaint – a day before it was to go to trial - because a judge ruled Tuesday that he couldn’t hold depositions of various officeholders before the trial.

McKinney said he will turn over documents he’s obtained in the matter to the Ohio secretary of state’s for that office to conduct an investigation.

But Donald C. Brey, McKinney’s attorney, said the secretary can’t order a new election.

Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras, vice chairman of the county board of elections, said: “We are outraged to learn that Sean McKinney has continued his attacks on the board of elections. His refusal to accept the will of the voters is troubling. As we said from the moment he filed his lawsuit against the board of elections and Mayor [Jamael Tito] Brown, his claims that ‘election irregularities and other improper activities’ rendered the outcome of the election ‘uncertain’ were baseless and ridiculous.”

Betras added: “We welcome the secretary of state to review everything immediately as we did nothing wrong and this was a clean election. It is troubling he cannot accept a lost in an election and he and his lawyer would have lost in court. His press conference today was baseless and filled with outright lies. The way the November 7, 2017 election was [is] valid and verified.”