YOUNGSTOWN — The attorney representing 28 voters of Jennifer J. Ciccone who contested the results of the Struthers Municipal Court election that she lost by 10.28% has dropped the court complaint.

In a one-sentence motion Friday, Michael P. Ciccone, the attorney for the voters, requested the 7th District Court of Appeals dismiss the case that was filed Dec. 1.

The attorney couldn’t be reached Friday to comment.

Jennifer J. Ciccone declined Friday to comment, saying she had nothing to do with the court complaint. She is not related to the attorney, who was a supporter of her campaign.

The failed candidate, a Republican, said she didn’t question the outcome of campaign even though she requested hundreds of pages of documents from the Mahoning County Board of Elections before the court complaint was filed.

Election Director Tom McCabe, who is also the county Republican Party chairman, said Jennifer J. Ciccone called him the day after the election “claiming it was rigged and there was massive fraud. No there wasn’t. You lost by 1,400 votes.”

McCabe added: “I’m disappointed it was dropped. I was looking forward to our day in court to respond to these baseless allegations. The people who filed it, Jen Ciccone and Michael Ciccone, owe every pollworker and every elections employee an apology. They accused my staff of rigging an election. They owe all of us an apology.”

Elections board Chairman David Betras, who sharply criticized the attorney and the candidate for questioning the results, said he doesn’t plan to let the matter go.

“He filed it and now he has to eat it,” said Betas, an attorney. “You don’t get to call me a felon and walk away. No, no, nope, no. My lawyer is going to file a complaint for our legal fees. Whatever our remedies are against him and her and the people who filed this, I’m going to sue them for legal fees.”

Betras didn’t rule out filing a complaint to seek disciplinary action against the two from the Ohio Supreme Court.

Betras said: “I’m not putting up with it. He’ll have to suffer the repercussions of filing a frivolous complaint. He and his clients don’t get a mulligan on this. I’m not putting up with this for one solitary second.”

Michael P. Ciccone filed the complaint contending, without providing details, that there was massive fraud in the Struthers Municipal Court race that had James Melone win by 10.28%.

The complaint claimed Melone “did not receive the majority of votes cast in the election,” sought to nullify the results of the election and have the seat vacant when Melone is to take office Jan. 1.

Melone said Friday: “I’m relieved this is now resolved although I never had any doubt this matter would be dismissed by the petitioners or the court because it was wholly without merit. I look forward to taking office Jan. 1 to do the best job for the citizens of the Struthers Municipal Court district.”

Before seeking dismissal Friday, Ciccone filed a motion Thursday objecting to Mahoning County hiring outside legal counsel and requesting court sanctions.

Ciccone wrote that the county’s hiring of Matthew Vansuch of the Brouse McDowell law firm in Canfield shouldn’t be permitted by the 7th District Court of Appeals and the lawyer and his firm be permanently banned from the case.

In his Thursday response, Vansuch said Ciccone’s request is incorrect and “should not have been filed. Even the case upon which the contestors rely rejects their arguments. The board can only surmise that the purpose of this filing was to delay these proceedings, which the Revised Code requires be heard within a very short period of time,” by Dec. 31.

In Ciccone’s filing, he asked the appeals court to sanction Vansuch and his law firm by banning them from handling the case, “hold them in contempt, award attorney fees, litigation costs and any other remedy deemed just and equitable by this court.”

Vansuch wrote Ciccone’s motion that the county prosecutor must secure approval of the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to hire counsel for the board of elections “is not accurate.”

Ciccone was the Republican nominee for the seat while Melone won the Democratic primary against Dominic R. Leone III, who was the incumbent at the time. In Ohio, municipal court judges run in partisan primaries and then run without party affiliation on the general election ballot.

County Prosecutor Gina DeGenova said her office recused itself from the case because she didn’t want any appearance of impropriety. DeGenova said she gave money to Melone’s campaign and he gave money to her campaign, and Jennifer J. Ciccone is the victim in an assault case the office is prosecuting.

The objection to the outcome of the election drew sharp and immediate criticism and objections from Republican and Democratic members of the county board of elections as well as McCabe.

Before the request for dismissal, John B. Juhasz, Melone’s attorney, filed a Thursday motion asking for the court to require the complaint include “a more definite statement” to “state sufficient operative facts.”

“The petition is so vague and lacking in operative facts that it cannot be meaningfully answered,” he wrote.

Juhasz added: “All of these claims are made without specifying anything,” and “if those who are making claims are allowed simply to file ‘shotgun’ pleadings, the effect is to force, as it is here, nothing more than a general denial.”

Two of the court’s four judges — Mark A. Hanni and David D’Apolito — recused themselves from the case “due to conflicts.”

Sharon Kennedy, chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, named W. Scott Gwin of the 5th District Court of Appeals to the case. He was to join the two other 7th District judges who didn’t recuse themselves: Carol Ann Robb and Cheryl Waite.