YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Board of Elections set a Thursday hearing to determine if state Rep. Tex Fischer will be certified to the Nov. 5 ballot after a protest was made questioning his eligibility.

The board met Tuesday and declined to vote to certify Fischer, a Boardman Republican, and instead set the Thursday hearing to hear arguments from both sides.

County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Anderson filed a protest against Fischer’s certification because the Republican candidate “did not comply with the provisions” of state law “by failing to list his former name on Ohio Secretary of State form 289 — his Certification of Selection of Candidate to Fill Vacancy in Party Nomination.”

The county probate court on May 19, 2020, permitted Fischer, appointed June 26 to an open Ohio House seat, to change his name from Austin James Fischer to Austin James Texford Fischer.

Ohio Revised Code Section 3513.271 and 3513.06, both signed into law on Aug. 22, 1995, both state: “If any person desiring to become a candidate for public office has had a change of name within five years immediately preceding the filing of his statement of candidacy, both his statement and nominating petition must contain, immediately following the person’s present name, the person’s former name.”

The law doesn’t apply to those who change their name through marriage or to a candidate who has once before complied with the section.

On Fischer’s Certification of Selection of Candidate to Fill Vacancy in Party Nomination form, signed June 23, for the Ohio House District position he doesn’t list his former name.

The little-known law gained national attention in January when boards of elections in Ohio removed Democratic transgender candidates for state legislative races because they didn’t include their former names on paperwork seeking to get on the ballot.

Anderson said: “To me, it only feels fair that the law be applied equally. It’s not fair to trans candidates and the other folks who have been kicked off of the ballot to then let Mr. Fischer have special treatment. The fact is he changed his name and I do not believe he properly disclosed it in my layman’s reading of the law. It will be up to the board of elections to decide whether they agree or not.”

Fischer said the objection “seems like a Hail Mary,” and “every time Democrats don’t like someone they jump to throw them off the ballot,” starting with Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee and former president, who had to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn efforts to keep him off the ballot in some states.

Fischer said: “The voters will decide this election, not the board of elections. I feel bad for the folks down at the board and the secretary of state’s office having their time wasted so Chris (Anderson) can play a silly game.”

In the most recent case involving a legal name change, in March 2023, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 7-0 in favor of the Washington County Board of Elections, which didn’t certify Ari Gold, a Marietta mayoral candidate, to the ballot for failing to disclose his former name, David Asaf Labes, on his petition paperwork.

Democrat David Betras, Mahoning elections board chairman and an attorney, said, “This presents a unique issue for this board. This board, when we are determining the validity of petitions, is to act in a nonpartisan manner. We all took an oath to follow the laws of the state of Ohio and the United States Constitution. So the question as I see it is: did he violate that section of the law (with) his nominating petitions when he filed them?”

It’s likely that regardless of what the county board of elections decides, the matter will end up being determined by the Ohio Supreme Court.

If Thursday’s board vote ends in a 2-2 tie, it will go to Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, to break a tie.

LaRose said earlier this year that his office wasn’t in favor of changing the law, but could include a provision in his office’s candidate requirement guide to inform people of it.

Gov. Mike DeWine, also a Republican, said in January that some sort of change is needed.

Fischer was selected by the chairmen and the secretaries of the Mahoning and Columbiana Republican Parties on June 23 to a vacant Ohio House seat – it’s currently the 58th District and will be the 59th District because of statewide redistricting that takes effect with this election.

The seat was vacated by Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, who moved up to the state Senate to fill an open seat that Michael Rulli, R-Salem, held. Rulli left the state Senate the day after his June 11 special election win for the 6th Congressional District. That congressional post was vacant because of the Jan. 21 resignation of Republican Bill Johnson, who was named Youngstown State University president.

The House district includes Boardman, Canfield, Struthers and Campbell as well as rural parts of Mahoning County. It will include two Columbiana County townships when the new boundaries take effect.

Laura Schaeffer, a Beloit councilwoman and integrated library systems administrator for the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, is the Democratic candidate in this state representative race.

Monday was the deadline to replace candidates on the Nov. 5 ballot so if Fischer is ruled ineligible, Schaeffer would run unopposed in a district that favors Republicans by 12% based on partisan statewide voting results during the past decade.

Fischer is co-founder and partner of the H&F Strategies LLC political consulting firm and is the Mahoning County Republican Party’s first vice chairman. He was chosen from among seven Republican candidates for the state House appointment.

Also Wednesday, the board certified other candidates as well as issues to the Nov. 5 ballot.

Only weekly and Sunday liquor options for The Cafe by Prepped Wellness, 901 Elm St. in Youngstown, failed to get certified because petitions didn’t have enough valid signatures.

The board also agreed to spend about $30,000 to have Forty-Two Inc. install equipment to allow the body to livestream its meetings. The equipment will be installed around September in the board’s meeting room.

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