The Ultimate Insult to Ohio Voters: The Boards of (S)elections

Kettering resident Nevin Smith thought he was doing the right thing. He collected more than enough signatures to qualify for the city council ballot. When the Montgomery County Board of Elections staff reviewed them, 14 were tossed as “not genuine.” That is bureaucrat speak for “we do not think this matches what is on file.”

No graphologists were involved. No criminal charges for forgery were filed against the circulator or the voters. Just a subjective opinion from staff, picked by the two political parties, that handwriting variations meant voters could not put a candidate on the ballot. He ended up 11 short.

Smith did what any reasonable person would do. He went back to those voters, asked them to swear before a notary that they had signed, that the signatures were theirs, and that their intent was to put him on the ballot. The affidavits were delivered to the Board of Elections office, time stamped, and copies returned to him. He turned in 12 to start, and then one more. When he turned them in, Rezabek told him there was no precedent for it- or process, and laughed at Smith.

Director Jeff Rezabek refused to present those affidavits to the board before the vote. The board voted to disqualify Smith. He was not allowed to speak until after the vote. This is not democracy. It is disenfranchisement.

The law and the remedy

Ohio Revised Code sections 3501.38 ^[1] and 3501.39 ^[2] set out the rules for petitions. Only signatures of qualified electors count. Boards may reject signatures if they are “not genuine.” Declaring a signature “not genuine” without charging anyone with a fifth degree felony under R.C. 3599.36 ^[3] is a sham. Either the signature is forged or it is not. Voters swearing under oath that the signatures were theirs should cure the defect.

The proper legal remedy is a writ of mandamus in the Second District Court of Appeals. That filing must show three things: a clear legal right for the candidate, a clear legal duty for the board, and no other adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law. The court has original jurisdiction to hear these disputes. Ballot deadlines mean there is no time to wait for ordinary appeals.

The required filings are simple. A petition for writ of mandamus lays out the facts, the law, and the relief sought. A motion for expedited consideration asks the court to set an immediate briefing schedule. A proposed order for an alternative writ gives the court a template to issue deadlines and preserve the ability to put the candidate on the ballot. Exhibits include the petitions, the rejection notice, the notarized affidavits, and the board minutes.

I have fought the Board of Elections before. I never knew in advance of their “Oscar awards” style meetings if I would be on the ballot. I took them to court not over signatures, but because their so-called agendas were nothing more than schedules. ^[4] Agendas have actionable items. Schedules just tell you when they plan to talk. Because my filing deadlines were earlier, I had more time to rectify disputes. Kettering’s late deadline makes this process far riskier.

Kettering’s council should have stepped in last night. They should have ordered the BOE to accept the affidavits and let voters decide who belongs on the ballot. That is what representative government looks like. Instead, the city stood by while party hacks erased voter intent.

Party control of the boards

What makes this worse is the structure of Boards of Elections in Ohio. Out of 8,060,554 registered voters, only 817,063 are Democrats and 1,508,641 are Republicans ^[5]. That is about 10 percent and 19 percent. The other 5,734,850 voters, more than 71 percent, are unaffiliated. Most of them skip the primaries, which means they never get to help choose who gets on the general election ballot.

Yet every county Board of Elections is made up of four appointed members, two Democrats and two Republicans. They are picked by party executive committees that are often half empty and barely functioning. If House Bill 331 applied to political parties instead of villages, most of these committees would already be dissolved for lack of participation.

Independents, the overwhelming majority, get no seat at the table. The real reform would start with allowing independents to elect an independent voice to each Board of Elections. That voice could break ties, bring reason, and give voters a say in who and what makes the ballot.

Instead, these boards are dens of political patronage and corruption. They are staffed by party hacks. They decide whether voters’ handwriting looks neat enough to count. They do not charge fraud when they claim signatures are “not genuine.” They just erase voters and candidates from the process.

That is not a Board of Elections. It is a Board of (S)elections. And it is long past time to stop pretending otherwise.