GOP to replace two on county election board
Moves are fallout from November election’s uncounted votes.
The Miami County Republican TROY — Executive Committee has recommended replacing both party representatives on the Board of Elections after votes went uncounted in the November election, but the county’s Democrats are not taking similar action, their chairman said.
The Republican committee voted Wednesday night to recommend the Secretary of State replace board member Ryan King of Piqua when his term expires at month’s end and remove board member Rob Long of Troy after the committee’s no-confidence vote. Long is in the midst of his term. The committee recommended Jim Oda of Piqua, director of the Piqua Public Library, to fill King’s board seat.
The recommendations were forwarded to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office late Wednesday. The committee makes recommendations and nominations for consideration at the state level. The Sec-
continued from B1 retary of State’s Office had not responded to an inquiry on the recommendations early Thursday afternoon.
The Republican committee’s recommendations followed disclosure last month that 6,288 early ballots cast at the Board of Elections office before the Nov. 6 election were not counted.
Russell Wheeler of Troy, chairman of the Miami County Democratic Party, said Thursday that party’s committee voted to appoint elections board Chairman Dave Fisher of Bethel Twp. to a new four-year board term on Jan. 10. The second Democrat on the board, Audrey Gillespie of Piqua, has two years left on her term.
“My intent is to continue to support our board members,” Wheeler said. “I believe this has been handled as well as it could be, considering the circumstances.”
Wheeler said he thought, however, the board waited too long before making the uncounted votes public. The error was found Dec. 20 after the Secretary of State’s staff notified the elections office of discrepancies in the voter turnout when compared to vote history in the county.
The uncounted votes were made public Jan. 19 after Fisher confirmed why the board said it would be meeting to discuss the election results. The results were corrected with the previously uncounted votes in January. The outcomes of races and issues were not changed.
The board voted last month 3-1 to fire elections Director Beverly Kendall, a Republican. Secretary of State Frank LaRose put the election office under state oversight and is conducting an investigation of the election and the uncounted votes.
King said Thursday he chose not to comment on the party action. Long could not be reached.
The board of elections was scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon to certify candidates for the May ballot.
Applications for a new elections director were sought, with a deadline for applicants of Feb. 12. The elections office received 22 applications, but the list was narrowed to 12 when those who did not meet the requirement of being a registered Republican were removed, said Ian Ridgeway, deputy elections director. The board will review the applications and decide whether to move forward with interviews, he said.