Board of elections rejects protest

The Lorain County Board of Elections swiftly rejected on August 8 a protest against the nominating petitions of Elyria law director candidate Honey Howard.

The Board of Elections rejected unanimously the protest filed by Elyria resident James Slone which claimed Howard was not using her proper legal name of Honey Rothschild.

Howard, an assistant prosecutor for the city of Elyria, filed petitions in May to run as an independent candidate to face Democrat Amanda Deery in November after current Law Director Scott Serazin announced he would not seek reelection.

Slone said he filed the protest as a concerned citizen and sought clarification from the Board of Elections on whether Howard was running under her correct legal name.

“When I got down to see who was running I said how can Honey Howard be running for law director when her name is Honey Rothschild.”

Slone said he searched public records and could not find any records for Honey Howard.

“I’m here to ask the board to make a decision on whether this young lady should run as Honey Howard or as Honey Rothschild.”

Board member Anthony Giardini pointed out that Howard has been registered to vote with the Board of Elections since 2012, prompting the Board to formally reject the protest.

“As I understand the law

that was given to us by the special prosecutor, outside the five period… Honey Howard has used the name Honey Howard for over seven years now,” Giardini said.

“Our records say it’s Honey Howard, she votes as Honey Howard,” he added. “Based on the law that’s been given to me, it seems pretty clear to me.”

Slone said while he did not question her qualifications as an attorney, he was concerned that she was filing her petitions under the correct name.

“I’m just saying she has abandoned the name that she’s used forever as Honey Rothschild to go to Honey Howard and I don’t know why. She is being paid right now by the City of Elyria as Honey Rothschild. She has filed lawsuits for the City of Elyria.”

According to the filing, all known public records are believed to be under the name of Honey Rothschild and argues that in order to run for Elyria law director under the city of Elyria’s charter, “the City Law Director shall have been duly admitted to the practice of law under the state of Ohio.”

Because Howard’s law license is under the name of Honey Rothschild, Slone argued petitions filed under Howard should be ruled invalid and should be disqualified from the November 5 general election ballot.

At the start of the hearing Howard attempted to object out of concerns about the procedure and lack of due process but was denied by special prosecutor Paul Gains, the Mahoning County Prosecutor.

“It’s called due process sir. It’s called due process of law,” Howard said.

In response to the Board’s rejection of the protest Howard blasted Slone and the process for the protest hearing.

“It shouldn’t have been filed in the first place,” she said.

Howard said after the protest was filed on July 29 she was not immediately informed by the Board of Elections and only found out through media reports and social media.

“I didn’t find out for two whole days. when they emailed it to me two days later, the fury had already started and there’s been irreparable harm done to me, my reputation because generally the people who read the first article don’t read the follow up to see that you’ve been exonerated,” she said.

“So now it’s a lot of people out there thinking I don’t even know my name. For a lawyer that’s pretty hard.”

She questioned the timing of the filing, coming on the 89th day right before the 90 day deadline and said the filing was aimed to

disrupt her campaign and said the Board of Elections should not have allowed the protest to proceed.

“So then in the middle of my campaign I’d already knocked on thousands of doors, collected signatures and my petitions, gone out campaigned and all sorts of stuff, only to have someone come in in the middle of my campaign to try to discredit me and cast me in a false light. I think that’s unfair.”

She entirely rejected Slone’s assertion that he was seeking clarification on the legality of her name on her petitions.

“I was born at night but not last night,” Howard stated.

She said she would be contacting local Ohio legislators to work to get current law governing election protests to be changed.

“Our records say it’s Honey Howard, she votes as Honey Howard. Based on the law that’s been given to me, it seems pretty clear to me.” — Board of elections member Anthony Giardini