Elections board leader Kriner submits official resignation

6/16/2011

Patrick Kriner, chairman of the Lucas County Board of Elections, officially resigned Wednesday, leaving the panel without a Republican member and without a quorum to conduct business.

Mr. Kriner, who announced May 20 that he would leave the position no later than June 15, said he telephoned the Secretary of State's Office to confirm he was leaving. Fellow Republican board member Ben Marsh resigned on May 10.

Ron Rothenbuhler, the Lucas County Democratic chairman and a member of the elections board, said he was concerned the loss of a second board member leaves the elections board without a quorum to approve petitions for levy issues and candidates for the next election cycle.

The next special election would be Aug. 2, with deadlines for filing campaign financial reports and voter registration deadlines before that.

Jon Stainbrook, chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party who pushed to have Mr. Kriner and Mr. Marsh replaced as the two GOP members, said appointments to the board will be made by Secretary of State Jon Husted, based on recommendations from the county GOP's executive committee. The executive committee's recommendation to have Mr. Stainbrook fill the Marsh vacancy has not been acted on.

Besides approving ballot petitions, the new board is needed to fill the posts of director and deputy director, who were fired in March over the handling of provisional ballots.