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Trumbull elections board removes three candidates from May primary, asks for two investigations
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Eugene Mach, 7th Ward Warren councilman, will not be on the ballot in the May primary because he did not have a sufficient number of signatures on his candidate petitions, the Trumbull County Board of Elections decided Thursday.
The elections board said Mach was required to turn in 25 valid signatures. He turned in 27, but four were ruled invalid.
Mach was one of three people whose petitions contained an insufficient number of signatures, causing them to be removed. The others are Darin Ward, who was seeking a seat on Lordstown Village Council; and William J. Williams Sr., who was seeking re-election as Hubbard City Council president.
All other candidates who filed were certified to remain on the ballot.
The board also set a hearing for 2 p.m. March 25 to hear testimony and decide whether to put a recall on the primary ballot of Newton Falls Councilman John Baryak. The request for recall was filed by two Newton Falls residents. One is Nancy Hoffman, a former Newton Falls council member who is on the ballot opposing Baryak for his 2nd Ward seat. The other is Phillip Beer, 4th Ward councilman.
They requested his removal because of “his failure to properly conduct the business of the city, because of his failure to wisely spend the taxpayers’ money and malfeasance in office.”
Baryak’s attorney filed a letter with the elections board, saying the allegations are false and frivolous.
The elections board rejected a Newton Falls referendum asking for voters to reverse a village council decision related to the October hiring of the village manager, David Lynch. There was an insufficient number of valid signatures on the petitions.
The board also agreed to ask the Trumbull County Sheriff’s office to investigate a complaint that a church may have violated Ohio law by announcing from the pulpit that it would offer food at the board of elections office for people who came to vote.
State law says it’s illegal to give someone something of value in exchange for voting, elections officials said.