Appeals court blocks hearing on Webb matter

Lindsay Webb speaks during an Economic Development Committee meeting in this Feb. 8 file photo. THE BLADE Enlarge | Photo Reprints

An Ohio appeals court ordered the Lucas County Board of Elections on Wednesday morning to cancel a hearing about whether to decertify Toledo Councilman Lindsay Webb’s candidacy.

Ms. Webb, who represents the city’s sixth council district, is facing a challenge from a primary opponent who says the incumbent missed a filing deadline to accept her candidacy. The Lucas County Board of Elections had planned to hold a hearing at 1 p.m. Wednesday to decide whether to decertify her candidacy. Her attorneys asked Monday that the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals prohibit that hearing.

In addition to canceling the hearing, the court’s decision calls for the election board to respond to Ms. Webb’s argument that the protest filed by Republican Douglas DeCamp, one of her opponents in the Sept. 13 primary, was filed after the deadline for protests. Ms. Webb also contended in court filings that the requirement in the city charter for a candidate to respond with a letter to the elections board accepting his or her nomination within five days requires only “substantial compliance.”

The court set a deadline of 4 p.m. Monday for the election board to respond.

Judges in the case were Stephen A. Yarbrough, Patrick T. Dinkelacker, and Mary Jane Trapp.