Justia Ohio Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

On May 4, 2015, Bernabei resigned as treasurer for three Democratic campaigns and filed his statement of candidacy and nominating petitions with the Stark County Board of Elections declaring his independent candidacy for Mayor of Canton. Nine protestors filed a protest against Bernabei’s candidacy. The Board of Elections members deadlocked on the protest. Secretary of State Jon Husted broke the tie in favor of certifying Bernabei’s independent candidacy for the November 2015 ballot. Relator, one of the protestors, filed the present suit for a writ of prohibition, asserting that Bernabei was not a genuine resident of Canton on the date he filed his nominating petitions and that he did not actually disaffiliate from the Democratic Party before filing his petitions. The Supreme Court denied the writ, holding (1) Relator was not entitled to a writ of prohibition based on an alleged residency defect; and (2) Realtor failed to demonstrate that he presented clear and convincing evidence on the disaffiliation question, that Husted abused his discretion, or that Husted acted in clear disregard of applicable law. View "State ex rel. Morris v. Stark County Bd. of Elections" on Justia Law

On May 4, 2015, Francis H. Cicchinelli Jr., who had a long history as a Democratic Party candidate and officeholder in the city of Massillon, filed a statement of candidacy and nominating petitions with the Stark County Board of Elections declaring his independent candidacy for Mayor of Massillon in the November 2015 election. Four protestors filed a protest of Cicchinelli’s candidacy. The Board of Elections members deadlocked on the protest. Secretary of State Jon Husted broke the tie in favor of certifying Cicchinelli’s independent candidacy for the November ballot. Relators, two of the protestors, filed suit in the Supreme Court for a writ of prohibition to prevent Husted and the Board of Elections from placing Cicchinelli’s name on the ballot, arguing that Cicchinelli’s claim of independence could not have been made in good faith. The Supreme Court denied the writ, holding that Relators failed to present any evidence that the declaration was not made in good faith. View "State ex rel. Richards v. Stark County Bd. of Elections" on Justia Law

A Newton Falls ordinance repealed a provision allowing residents a credit for income taxes paid to another municipality. Relator circulated petitions to place an initiative on the ballot to restore the tax credit and to mandate that the restoration of the credit be repealed only by popular vote. The Trumbull County Board of Elections (Board) certified more than the required number of valid signatures to place the measure on the ballot. Because Kathleen King, clerk of Newton Falls, had not transmitted a certified copy of the proposed initiative, along with the supporting petitions, to the Board for placement on the ballot, Relator filed this suit for a writ of mandamus to compel King to transmit the petition and certified text to the Board. The Supreme Court granted the writ and ordered King to transmit the petitions and certified text of the proposed initiative to the Board. View "State ex rel. Lange v. King" on Justia Law

The City of Delaware and Berkshire Township contracted for a proposed joint economic development district, and the Berkshire Township Board of Trustees adopted a resolution approving the contract. Colleen Mann circulated part-petitions, including part-petition Nos. 2 and 5, calling for a referendum on the resolution. The Delaware County Board of Elections (“Board”) rejected part-petitions No. 2 and 5 in their entirety, concluding that the part-petitions lacked the required number of valid signatures. Relators, Mann and two other individuals, commenced this action in mandamus against the Board and its members seeking to compel the Board to certify the referendum petition for the May 5, 2015 special-election ballot. The Supreme Court granted the writ and ordered the Board to recalculate the number of valid signatures, holding (1) there was insufficient evidence from which the Board could infer that Mann knew that two specific signatures were false; and (2) therefore, the Board abused its discretion when it rejected the two part-petitions in their entirety. View "State ex rel. Mann v. Bd. of Elections" on Justia Law

Dick Flanagan filed an action in quo warranto challenging the qualifications of David Lucas, the Belmont County sheriff, who was elected to the office and sworn in on January 7, 2013. Specifically, Flanagan claimed that Lucas did not meet the statutory qualifications for a candidate for county sheriff and that Flanagan, the only person appearing on the ballot in the November 6, 2012 election who satisfied the statutory qualifications, was entitled to the office. The Supreme Court dismissed the action for lack of standing, holding that Flanagan, as the losing candidate, had no reasonable grounds to claim entitlement to the office of sheriff and therefore lacked standing to bring this quo warranto action.View "State ex rel. Flanagan v. Lucas" on Justia Law

Appellant submitted a declaration of candidacy to run in the May 6, 2014 primary for an elected position on the Democratic Party State Central Committee and, along with the declaration, submitted a nominating petition containing nine total signatures. The Franklin County Board of Elections rejected Appellant’s declaration because, according to the Board’s judgment, Appellant did not submit five valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. After Appellant unsuccessfully appealed, Appellant filed a complaint for writ of mandamus with the court of appeals. The court denied the writ. The Supreme Court granted the writ and ordered the Board to add Appellant’s name to the May 6, 2014 primary ballot, holding that the Board abused its discretion in determining that the nominating petition did not contain five valid signatures.View "State ex rel. Scott v. Franklin County Bd. of Elections" on Justia Law

Relators circulated petitions in support of a proposed amendment to the city charter that would nullify an ordinance establishing a development plan for property in downtown Powell, Ohio. The city counsel considered the proposed ballot measure and voted unanimously not to submit the amendment to the voters, concluding that the charter amendment constituted an unlawful delegation of legislative authority into private hands. Realtors sought a writ of mandamus to compel the city council and city clerk to place their proposed charter amendment on the November 4, 2014 ballot. The Supreme Court held that the city council properly refused to place the matter on the ballot because the terms of the proposed charter initiative were unconstitutional. Relators then filed a motion for reconsideration. The Supreme Court granted the motion for reconsideration and granted a writ of mandamus, holding that the council acted unlawfully when if failed to place the amendment before the voters, as the proper time for an aggrieved party to challenge the constitutionality of the charter amendment is after the voters approve the measure. View "State ex rel. Ebersole v. Powell" on Justia Law

On December 30, 2013, Steven Linnabary filed a declaration of candidacy and nominating petition to run in the Libertarian primary for the office of attorney general. Secretary of State Jon Husted certified Linnabary’s candidacy for the May 6, 2014 ballot. Carl Akers subsequently filed a protest against Linnabary’s candidacy. After a hearing officer issued his report rejecting certain part petitions circulated on behalf of Linnabary due to noncompliance, Husted issued a decision letter adopting the hearing officer’s conclusions, which resulted in a finding that Linnabary no longer had sufficient signatures to qualify for the primary ballot. On March 10, 2014, Linnabary sought a writ of mandamus to compel Husted to restore his name to the ballot. The Supreme Court denied the writ, concluding that Husted reasonably concluded that the part petitions should be invalidated for noncompliance.View "State ex rel. Linnabary v. Husted" on Justia Law

In 2013, the Supreme Court ousted George Maier as sheriff of Stark County based on Maier’s failure to meet the employment qualifications. Maier subsequently went back to work full-time for Harrison County as a deputy sheriff. The Stark County Democratic Central Committee believed this employment cured the defect in Maier’s qualifications and again appointed him Stark County Sheriff. Thereafter, Maier submitted an application to be a candidate for sheriff in the May 6, 2014 Democratic primary election. Relator filed a protest with the Stark County Board of Elections (“BOE”), claiming that Maier remained unqualified to be a candidate for sheriff. The BOE’s hearing on the protest resulted in a tie vote. Secretary of State Jon Husted broke the tie in favor of denying the protest. Relator filed this action in prohibition to order the BOE and Husted to remove a BOE member for purposes of this protest for alleged bias and to order Husted to remove Maier from the primary ballot. The Supreme Court denied the writ, holding that neither Husted nor the BOE had the clear authority to remove a board of elections member for bias and because Husted did not abuse his discretion in allowing Maier to remain on the ballot. View "State ex rel. Balas-Bratton v. Husted" on Justia Law

After a group of Richmond Heights, Ohio electors submitted a “recall petition” to recall Mayor Miesha Wilson Headen, the Richmond Heights City Council voted to certify the mayoral recall issue for inclusion on the ballot. A special election was scheduled for September 23, 2014, and early voting in the special election began on August 27, 2014. On September 4, 2014, James G. Dawson attempted to file a written protest against the special election. The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections refused to accept the protest because the voting had already begun. Dawson subsequently filed suit seeking a writ of prohibition against the Board of Elections to prevent it from submitting the recall initiative to the voters at the September 23, 2014 special election. The Supreme Court denied the writ, holding that Dawson failed to present any reason why a writ of prohibition should issue to prevent the recall election. View "State ex rel. Dawson v. Cuyahoga County Bd. of Elections" on Justia Law