Lucas County Board of Elections deadlocks over candidate's eligibility

The Ohio Secretary of State will have to decide whether Republican Constantine Stamos can run for Lucas County commissioner after the Lucas County Board of Elections tied 2-2 on certifying him for the ballot Monday.

Also Monday, the elections board accepted a letter of withdrawal from Democrat Raymond Collins as a candidate for sheriff, leaving fellow Democrat John Tharp as the sole candidate to succeed Sheriff James Telb.

Mr. Stamos of Toledo, a part-time media specialist for Memory Transfers LLC of Sylvania, was the only candidate to file to run against Commissioner Pete Gerken in the March 6 primary and in the November general election.

The Lucas County Board of Elections staff questioned the legality of his candidacy petitions because Mr. Stamos allegedly turned in no petitions with an original signature. State law requires at least one sheet of signatures to contain an original signature of the candidate.

Meghan Gallagher, chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party's Central Committee, told the board Monday she turned in nine petition sheets, known as part-petitions, which included one with Mr. Stamos' original signature.

She said the petition was picked up by a staffer, Andrea Taliga, with a group of other petitions and then removed from sight, suggesting to her the page with the original signature was lost in the process.

Board of elections staffer Lori Jacek said Ms. Gallagher turned in eight sheets and that she returned a receipt with that number to Ms. Gallagher's associate, Kelly Bensman. The receipt also shows an estimate of 80 signatures, which is the number of signatures on the eight part-petitions that Ms. Taliga and Ms. Jacek say were filed.

The board was not able to get to the bottom of the she said-she said dispute and split 2-2 on a motion not to certify Mr. Stamos. Voting against certification were Democrats Ron Rothenbuhler and James Ruvolo. Voting for certification were Republicans Jon Stainbrook and Tony DeGidio.

Mr. Stainbrook attributed the missing Stamos signature sheet to staff error, and said the candidate should not be penalized for a board employee's mistake. He said Ms. Gallagher has a history of handling candidate petitions flawlessly. Mr. DeGidio said Ms. Gallagher's version should be accepted because Ms. Bensman and Mr. Stamos corroborated her account.

"It's very suspect that it just happens to be in the race for county commissioner," Mr. Stainbrook said.

Mr. Stainbrook further noted the debate over Mr. Stamos' petitions followed a board vote to certify a Democratic candidate for Lucas County Democratic Party Central Committee whose petition was not time-stamped because the staff inadvertently set it aside and did not open it until the day after the deadline. Mr. Stainbrook cited the instance as an example of how the board's mishandling of a petition should not be blamed on the candidate.

But Mr. Ruvolo and Mr. Rothenbuhler did not concede that the staff had erred, and noted Ms. Gallagher had not made a photocopy of the Stamos petitions before she turned them in. "I can't imagine anybody not taking copies of their petitions. I really find that hard to believe," Mr. Rothenbuhler said. "That's so standard a thing to do."

The board has 14 days to submit the question to Secretary of State Jon Husted, with supporting arguments, and he will then rule, according to Matthew McClellan, Mr. Husted's press secretary.

Mr. Collins' withdrawal from the contest for sheriff occurred as the board of elections was getting ready to conduct a protest hearing into his qualifications to be sheriff.

An attorney for Mr. Tharp filed a protest that Mr. Collins, a retired deputy, did not meet the criteria in state law to be elected or appointed sheriff, such as employment as a full-time peace officer in the four years immediately prior; employment as a full-time law enforcement officer in the prior three years, and serving two years at the rank of corporal or above, and five years at sergeant or above in the prior five years.

Mr. Tharp, who heads the administrative services division of the sheriff's office and holds the rank of major, said he will campaign though he has no opponent.

"We'll just continue to move forward and do the best we can do. I'm going to get out and meet as many people as I can. I don't know what's going to happen in the future," Major Tharp said.

Mr. Tharp — and Mr. Gerken, if Mr. Stamos is barred from the ballot — could still have opponents in November. The law allows for a write-in candidate to run for either party's nomination on the March 6 ballot. Also, an independent candidate could run. The deadline to file signature petitions is March 5, and the candidate would have to turn in at least 1,448 valid voter signatures.

Sheriff Telb is not seeking re-election.

Mr. Collins declined comment Monday.

Contact Tom Troy at tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058.