Challenges filed against 42 of village’s voter registrations

Seven percent COLUMBUS — of Urbancrest’s voter registrations for the Nov. 7 election have been challenged, a move that could lead to those votes not being counted.

“If they’re not living here, they don’t deserve to vote here,” said Donna Bogue, a village council candidate and 15-year Urbancrest resident.

Tired of what Bogue says are attempts to sway elections in the village tucked between Grove City and Columbus in southwestern Franklin County, she and Elberta Barnes challenged the eligibility of 42 of the village’s 585 registered voters. The village’s population is 984.

Barnes, wife of the village mayor and a long-time village employee, knows who lives in Urbancrest and for how long.

Bogue visited many of the addresses listed as home for the 42 questioned voters and relied on information from the village code enforcement officer — her husband, Randall Bogue — to determine which houses were uninhabited. The two women complied a list of 42 voters, including 10 who listed their addresses at an extended-stay hotel, and sent them to the Franklin County Board of Elections asking for an investigation.

“It’s very unusual” to have 42 voters challenged, Board of Elections Director Ed Leonard said. “We’ve never had that number. We’ve only had one or two.”

The complaints are important in Urbancrest because seven candidates are vying for four seats in a small community where a few votes can be — and have been — the difference between winning and losing.

“When one vote can decide a race, it’s important that every voter is registered properly,” Bogue said.

She challenged voters, she said, because she’s running for Council and wanted a fair election.

“We knew there were people on the list who didn’t live here any more,” Bogue said.

Small communities such as Urbancrest are where successful challenges can have the greatest impact.

“It’s so small and they realized the fact that they’ve had some really close elections before,” Leonard said.

At the Oct. 24 county Board of Elections meeting, Bogue swore under oath what she knew about her challenges. None of the challenged voters were at that meeting even though all were sent letters notifying them.

Board staff determined that one of the challenged voters died and another moved and was registered to vote in another state.

The remaining 40 challenged voters, the board determined, are allowed to vote but using provisional ballots. That means their votes won’t be counted unless the board determines they are properly registered. Ohio law requires the board to act on provisional votes within 10 days after the Nov. 7 election.

Urbancrest, which proclaims itself “The community where everybody is somebody,” has a checkered electoral history. It boasts it is the home of “the first African-American Elected Female Mayor” in the U.S. with the 1971 election of Ellen Walker Craig-Jones. She served from 1972-1975.