Board of Elections certifies primary results

JEFFERSON — After provisional ballots were added to previous vote totals, the Ashtabula County Board of Elections certified the results of the March 19 primary.

Deputy Director John Mead said everything went well with the election, administratively.

Director Charlie Frye said there were no recounts or changed results after provisional ballots were added to the vote totals.

He said one issue, a liquor option in Wayne Township, was decided by one vote, but because of the low turnout, the percentage did not fall within the range for an automatic recount.

A total of 16,053 ballots were cast in the election.

The board also approved conducting the audit of the election based on polling places, not precincts.

The audit of the election results will take place on April 10 at 8:30 a.m. at the Board of Elections office.

In other business:

• Frye said the board had a request from Justin Tjaden, an independent seeking to be on the ballot for the 99th Ohio House district, for copies of the petitions reviewed by board staff.

He said he would send those to Tjaden immediately after the meeting.

Tjaden sent out a press release on Tuesday, announcing he planned to challenge the decision by the Geauga County Board of Elections that he does not have sufficient signatures to appear on the ballot.

In the release, Tjaden said he submitted 552 signatures, but only 371 were found to be valid, leaving him well short of the 495-signature threshold to appear on the November ballot.

Tjaden said he will file a legal challenge to the verification process and constitutional issues he claims exist between independent candidates and candidates of major parties.

According to information from the Ohio Secretary of State’s website, major party candidates for state representative or state senator need to collect 50 signatures, candidates from recognized minor parties need to collect 25 signatures, and the number of signatures needed for independent candidates to appear on the ballot varies.

If the number of votes cast in the district in the last general election for governor was fewer than 5,000, candidates need to collect 25 signatures or a number of them equal to five percent of the vote, whichever is less. If the number of votes in that election is 5,000 or more, independent candidates need to collect a number of signatures equal to one percent of the vote.

Board member Isaac Arthur said political parties have to reach the one-percent threshold to be recognized as a political party, and independent candidates have to meet that same standard to appear on the ballot.