Fellow board members Dean Tamplin and Robert Huffman Jr. agreed with Gillis. The fourth board member Jose Lopez did not attend the meeting.
The board heard protests filed by five candidates whose petitions were invalidated following the Aug. 5 filing deadline for most candidates for elected positions in townships, school districts and cities/villages across the county.
The board rejected three appeals, finding the candidate’s failure to complete a circulator statement was required by law. Those protests were by Michael Van Haaren and Greg Lawson for Bethel school board and Patty Lynch for Tipp City school board.
The remaining two protests were approved after the board heard from the candidates about errors in areas of the petition where “substantial compliance” is required but some judgment can be applied by the board.
In one case, Deborah Watson, incumbent candidate for Bethel Twp. fiscal officer, argued that some signatures elections staff threw out should have been approved
In the second case, Harold Brumfield, explained that his circulator petition had the date his petitions were filed because he was not sure which date was needed on his statement of candidacy for Miami East Board of Education.
Brumfield outlined for the board his calls to surrounding county boards of election to see how many petitions were filed and invalidated. The most for counties adjacent to Miami was in Shelby County, where seven of 87 petitions were thrown out.
Three of the five protesting candidates and around a dozen other people attended Friday’s meeting. The board was asked repeatedly to explain why so many petitions were invalidated.
Bev Kendall, recently hired as elections director, said previously the number rejected was the largest she’d seen in 17 years with the elections office.
The board also heard calls for more candidate friendly procedures where possible.
““Something is horribly wrong here … You are losing the confidence of your voting public here if something doesn’t change,” said Michael Van Haaren, whose protest was denied.
Chris Englert, an assistant county prosecutor advising the board, said the Secretary of State has “made it clear” the board cannot give out advice.
““We have to treat everybody equally … We want to avoid any appearance of improprieties … to avoid doing something that might give one person an advantage over another,” Huffman said.
Beth Van Haaren, a Bethel Twp. trustee and Michael Van Haaren’s wife, urged the board to “take a look at your system” and at least make it easier for all prospective candidates to find information on filing and what is required.
She also asked the board to place a nomination petition example online “so people can see how it’s done.”
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