Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Teen accused of drinking, dancing topless in club
Cuyahoga Falls woman's killer executed
Woman accused of killing 6 of her newborns
Portage County woman, 19, gets jail time for having sexual contact with boy, 11
Barberton man hit by vehicle after fight dies
Man accused of contacting victim he assaulted
Marine from Revere High critically wounded
Holmgren, Mangini explain recent moves
Smucker sells Hungry Jack potato brands
Blogs:
Akron Docs in Haiti:
Almost home
First Bell - On Education:
Celebrate Pi Day on March 14
Pets:
Bees attack dogs in Arizona
The Heldenfiles:
"American Idol" Top 12 Performances
Akron Zips:
Akron accepts CBI bid, will host game Wednesday
Tribe Matters:
Tribe acquires pitcher for Lofgren
Cleveland Browns:
Two more Browns additions; Estandia and Ventrone re-signed
Balanced Ledger:
How times have changed?
Kent State Sports:
Tulsa coach talks about Kent State
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Cavs Shift Start Time for Sunday Pistons Game
Buckeye Blogging:
Bucks High Seed – Turner High Praise
Varsity Letters:
Akron offers Brewton
All Da King's Men:
ObamaCare To Reduce Premiums By 3000% ?
Blog of Mass Destruction:
A Tea Party Divided
Akron Law Café:
Can Corporations Be Shamed?
Car Chase:
2010 CONCOURS SEASON IS UPON US
Let's Talk Real Estate:
The Academy Awards!!!
Sound Check:
Willie Nelson & Family coming to the Akron Civic Theatre May 11
See Jane Style:
Who Wore What – The Oscars
HRLite House:
Local Public Sector Spring Meeting
Akron Gamer:
PlayStation's Move ups the interaction, fidelity
Democrats say independent candidates they're challenging missed filing deadline
By Stephanie Warsmith Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Friday, Oct 05, 2007
Seven independent candidates for Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court clerk may be kicked off the ballot, but not because of questions about whether they are actually independent.
Instead, they could be disqualified from running in the Nov. 6 election because of a filing deadline issue.
It seems that everyone, including the Summit County Board of Elections, thought the candidates needed to file by Sept. 10, the deadline for other independent and nonpartisan candidates in Summit County. Instead, they were supposed to file by June 28, the same deadline as partisan candidates for Falls clerk.
The Democratic members of the elections board included this filing deadline issue in a brief sent this week to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who is expected to decide soon whether the clerk candidates should be permitted to run.
''We think it's a home run,'' said Wayne Jones, chairman of the elections board and a Democrat.
The elections board deadlocked 2 to 2 along party lines Sept. 25 about whether the seven candidates for Falls clerk should remain on the ballot. Tie votes by elections boards must be broken by the secretary of state.
The board's Democratic members claimed that six of the seven independent clerk candidates all women and most using three names are plants by the Republican Party to take votes from Lisa Zeno Carano, the Democratic candidate. They said the party wanted to help state Rep. John Widowfield, the Republican candidate and the only male.
The Republican board members argued that because no party affiliations will appear on the ballot in the clerk race in November, anyone can run for it.
A state law enacted in 2000 and sponsored by Sen. Kevin Coughlin, R-Cuyahoga Falls changed the Falls clerk race to require a partisan primary and nonpartisan general election. Before this, clerk candidates had no primaries and ran, like judges, without party affiliations in the general election.
The new law said all candidates for Falls clerk must file by 75 days before the primary election. (This year, that was June 28.)
Carano and Widowfield won the Sept. 11 primary. The seven independent candidates for the race filed their petitions on Sept. 6 and Sept. 10.
The earlier filing deadline came as a complete surprise for Robin Michelle Hutchinson, who no one disputes is a legitimate independent candidate for Falls clerk. (She has no ties to the other six contenders whose candidacy has been disputed.)
Hutchinson said she was told by elections board staff that she needed to file her petitions by Sept. 10, the day before the primary.
''I'm flabbergasted to say the least,'' she said. ''I've worked very hard on this campaign. It's something I'm looking forward to. To take my chance away because someone was misinformed I just don't think that's fair.''
Marijean Donofrio, deputy director of the elections board, said the board was unaware the filing deadline for independent candidates for Falls clerk was different from that for other independent candidates. She said this had never come up because there were no independent candidates in the last election for this seat in 2003.
Still, Donofrio said it is the responsibility of candidates to know when the deadlines are for their races.
''It's ultimately up to them,'' she said.
The filing deadline issue also surprised Alex Arshinkoff, a Republican board member who was arguing to keep the candidates on the ballot.
''It's unfair to the candidates,'' he said. ''The board staff made a serious mistake.''
''Nobody meant to do this,'' he added.
The other candidates for Falls clerk are: Anne-Marie Bretzin, Amy Grace Goodrich, Carol A. Gostlin, Ruth Ann Mundy, Kimberly Steinwedel and Kristi Marie Sykora.
Brunner also will decide whether Edna Boyle, an independent candidate for Barberton law director, should be thrown off the ballot.
The Democratic members of the elections board claim Boyle, the former Republican director of the Summit County Board of Elections, should be disqualified because of ties to the Republican party. Boyle has said she is not running because of her affiliation to the party but because she's qualified for the post.
The elections board is waiting for Brunner's decisions on the independent candidates so absentee ballots can be printed. This was supposed to be done Tuesday, but has been held up because of the unanswered question about the candidates.
As soon as Brunner rules, the elections board will get the ballots printed and send them to the nearly 1,000 voters who so far have requested them, said Bryan Williams, elections board director.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com.
Seven independent candidates for Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court clerk may be kicked off the ballot, but not because of questions about whether they are actually independent.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
