Elections board can consider Sylvania Twp. resident as candidate
8/23/2011The Lucas County Board of Elections can now move forward and vote on whether to allow a Sylvania Township Trustee incumbent back on the November ballot, after the Secretary of State’s office confirmed Tuesday that there is nothing in the law that would prevent that incumbent’s candidacy.
The board’s legal counsel, John Borell, received an answer Tuesday from the state office’s legal counsel on the question of whether Neal Mahoney could be a valid substitute for another candidate who had withdrawn, said Ben Roberts, Lucas County Elections board director.
Mr. Mahoney was decertified in July because he had withdrawn his candidacy and refiled. A new ruling from the Ohio Secretary of State prohibited candidates from refiling for the same office in the same election.
Another Sylvania Township resident, Jack Jolley, filed as a candidate earlier this month and then withdrew, and his campaign committee submitted Mr. Mahoney’s name in his place. The board had questioned whether Mr. Mahoney could be a substitute after being decertified.
Mr. Roberts said the board would need to put the issue on the agenda of a special meeting, and so that meeting would have to be scheduled in the near future. It is not on the agenda for a 2 p.m. meeting Wednesday.