|
Thursday, 30 August 2007 |
Elections Board does not certify three petitions due to lack of signatures
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Staff Writer
A local liquor option and two township candidates will not appear on November’s general election ballot due to a lack of valid signatures.
An employee of the Clark gas station, 302 S. Willipie St., collected more than 120 signatures to ask voters for their approval to sell alcohol on Sundays between 10 a.m. and midnight, but only 19 signatures were valid.
Eighty-two signatures of registered voters residing in precinct 3-A were required.
“There’s no indication that someone took the application and walked down Willipie to get signatures,” Auglaize County Elections Board Director Carolyn Campbell said after Wednesday’s board meeting. “A lot of them were the wrong precinct, several we couldn’t find registered at all.”
She said the petition may have been placed on the counter for people to sign, as it contained names of residents from throughout the city, Buckland, and even Allen and Shelby counties.
The assistant manager at the station had no comment on the rejection of the petition.
A Wayne Township resident running for a trustee position and the incumbent fiscal officer for Wayne Township also had their petitions rejected.
They had invalid signatures for several reasons, including those of non-registered voters and people who signed rather than printed their names so they did not match with the signature on file. Another reason is the addresses of some of those signing the petition did not match addresses on record.
Campbell said board members are required to follow Ohio Revised Code in determining the validity of petitions.
“When an individual prints his name, you can’t tell if it’s the actual individual doing it,” Auglaize County Prosecutor Ed Pierce said.
Pierce said he hoped state officials would look into changing its petition requirements to reflect new provisional ballot statues, which allow voters so much time to change their addresses after casting ballots. He said the same should be true for those signing petitions.
“It seems to me if you’re able to vote under those circumstances, you should be able to sign a petition under those circumstances,” Pierce said.
Board member Mary Dee Malueg voiced similar displeasure with the process.
“It seems like such a shame to go through all this work and not have them accepted,” Malueg said, “but I guess the law is the law.”
Unfortunately, if they made an exception in this case, it could also set a precedent in the future, acting board chair Fran Engle said.
Holly Turner, of Waynesfield, is currently serving her eighth year as fiscal officer for the township. She said she was running for the position, which she has been elected twice to four-year terms because she had a desire to continue to serve the community.
Only 23 of the 28 signatures she submitted were valid. She needed 25 valid signatures. She was the lone petitioner the position. Elections Board officials said the township trustees could chose to appoint her to the position in that case.
Luke Rodeheffer, of New Knoxville, was running for his first term as a Washington Township Trustee. Two other residents had their petitions certified for the position.
Rodeheffer submitted 26 signatures, but only 24 were valid, leaving him one shy of the required amount.
A candidate for Waynesfield mayor, Jeffrey Sandoe, had his petition reviewed, as he listed the date his term would begin rather than the date he signed the paperwork, but the election board decided to certify it as he explained his intentions clearly.
Approximately 90 candidates for township and village positions had their petitions certified during the meeting.
“There are no other questions about the petitions,” Engle said. “The rest seem to be correct.” |
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 31 August 2007 )
|
