Lawsuit over late ballots dismissed
By Stephanie Kist
SUMMIT COUNTY — How 210 people voted in the Sept. 11 Primary Election remains a mystery.
On Sept. 24, six days after the city of Akron sued the Summit County Board of Elections and state of Ohio officials to get late absentee votes counted, Summit County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas Teodosio dismissed the lawsuit.
“We’re disappointed,” said Akron Law Director Max Rothal. “The decision was not totally unexpected. We knew we had an uphill battle.”
Teodosio ruled that because the lawsuit was filed by a third party (naming Mayor Don Plusquellic and Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville (D-Ward 3), both in their official capacities and as residents of Akron) rather than by a voter whose ballot was not counted, the case lacked standing.
Plusquellic and Sommerville “have not asserted that they are persons who cast ballots that were not delivered to the Board of Elections by the close of voting on September 11, 2007, and which remain uncounted,” Teodosio wrote in his ruling. “They have not asserted any direct benefit or injury resulting from the outcome of this case. Rather they have only asserted a generalized harm to the voting body. This is insufficient as a matter of law.”
The 210 ballots were delivered by the U.S. Postal Service to the Board of Elections Sept. 12 and 13, after the polls had closed. State law prohibits late absentee ballots from being counted, according to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who was named as a defendant in the suit.
Rothal said it is likely the
city will not appeal Teodosio’s
ruling because the city law department does not represent
any of the 210 voters whose ballots were not received.
The dismissal of the lawsuit
also meant the Board of Elections was free to count
provisional and other absentee ballots and certify the
election Sept. 25.
The official and certified
results show Akron City Council
Ward 4 incumbent Reneé Greene might have won
the right to fight for her seat on Council after all.
The unofficial Democratic Primary Election results had
her losing by four votes to DeAndre Forney. The official
count is 756-753, with Greene the winner. However,
because of the close margin (less than one-half of 1
percent), a recount will take place Oct. 2.
Greene said she was “very
surprised” at the reversed results.
She said the slim margin does
bother her, and it’s something she said she’ll
have to work on.
“I would like to say how
thankful I am for my constituents
believing and supporting me down to the wire,”
she said.
Depending on the outcome of the
recount, Greene faces Republican challenger Cedric Colvin
in the Nov. 6 General Election.
Forney, the closest challenger
out of a field of four
in the Primary, also expressed his thanks to his supporters,
volunteers and those who voted for him, as well as congratulating
Greene.
“I had worked my hardest
again, and it was a tough race,” Forney said,
adding, “Obviously, you don’t like the roller
coaster of results where you’re up and
you’re down, but that’s just the way life
is sometimes. ... I think eventually I’ll be up
and I’ll stay up.”
The 25-year-old said he’ll
make the decision of whether or not to run again when
the time is right.
“You can never say never,”
he said. “Obviously, running for office is a huge
decision, and it requires a lot of money, a lot of work
and a lot of time.”
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