A special election will be held to replace Stephanie Tubbs Jones. The primary date is October 14th if more than one person files to run. The election itself would be November 18th. At least if you believe WKYC’s website. But hold on, The PD editors editorialized about this on the same day saying (and I paraphrase a bit) ‘Governor Strickland in no rush to fill 11th District Seat.’ Who is right? And if Gov. Strickland and Ms Brunner have decided to hold special elections, can they or their staff please issue some statements as to why (case law?) they felt they needed to do this and not appoint someone? I hate reading articles that are more like sound bytes.
If it is going to cost about $5 million to do this, can someone explain to me why it can’t be held on our already scheduled Election Day?
I’ve been trying to practice some due diligence on this. I think I found the correct code. Well, I found 3505.01 which specifically deals with the printing of the ballots. Wouldn’t that be the main concern, that there has to be enough time between certification of filed candidates and a primary and then time after that for ballots to be printed for the special (general) election.
In a couple of places it seemed to say 75 days was needed but then I found this on lawriter about the Ohio Revised Code:
If, subsequently to the sixtieth day before, or in the case of a presidential ballot for a general election the fifty-fifth day before, and prior to the tenth day before the day of a general election, a certificate is filed with the secretary of state to fill a vacancy caused by the death of a candidate, the secretary of state shall forthwith make a supplemental certification to the board of each county amending and correcting the secretary of state’s original certification provided for in the first paragraph of this section. If, within that time, such a certificate is filed with the board of the most populous county in a district comprised of more than one county but less than all of the counties of the state, or with the board of a county in which the major portion of the population of a subdivision, located in more than one county, is located, the board with which the certificate is filed shall forthwith make a supplemental certification to the board of each county in the district or to the board of each county in which other portions of the subdivision are located, amending and correcting its original certification provided for in the second and third paragraphs of this section. If, at the time such supplemental certification is received by a board, ballots carrying the name of the deceased candidate have been printed, the board shall cause strips of paper bearing the name of the candidate certified to fill the vacancy to be printed and pasted on those ballots so as to cover the name of the deceased candidate, except that in voting places using marking devices, the board shall cause strips of paper bearing the revised list of candidates for the office, after certification of a candidate to fill the vacancy, to be printed and pasted on the ballot cards so as to cover the names of candidates shown prior to the new certification, before such ballots are delivered to electors.
It seems like there is more time for certification/filing/etc than there is between the certification date and the primary….who writes this stuff? I took Constitutional law in college but codes seem to be much harder to decipher than court cases and tortes LOL. And here I thought it was only tax codes! Apparently Governor Strickland and his staff were in the same boat I am because (at least according to the media) he was trying to decide if he was even going to call for a special election. Then apparently the legal eagles said yes you do in fact have to do that? Sigh.
Speaking of case law and tortes, it seems as if part of an apellate court opinion on a prior case in Ohio said there was some descretion allowed. Is there or is there not? Does this make anyone else want to call Governor Strickland’s office? Oh I forgot, I guess they are all out of town…
Can someone explain why it seems like a good idea to have special elections that fill out an elected official’s term instead of appointing a replacement, when it’s going to cost so much money?
If it wasn’t 2:30 am I would be trying to find out what the percentage is of states who allow for appointments over ones who do not. And if the State attys decided we do have to have one, then a legal reference as to why would be nice.
In the meantime, I’m hoping one of my readers can shed some light on this for me. Peace Out - 3C
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