Staff photo / David Skolnick Kenneth Myers, left, the attorney for John White, right, unsuccessfully argued to the Mahoning County Board of Elections that his client should be certified to the ballot as an independent candidate for Youngstown mayor.

YOUNGSTOWN — After a hearing, the Mahoning County Board of Elections rejected the candidacy of John White for Youngstown mayor, but the issue may not be settled.

That’s because Kenneth Myers, White’s attorney, said after Monday’s 4-0 board decision that he would talk with his client and decide by the end of the week whether the matter would go to the courts for an appeal.

White, who wants to run as an independent for mayor, can either file with the 7th District Court of Appeals or directly with the Ohio Supreme Court. White insists he is eligible for the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

Lou D’Apolito, a Youngstown deputy law director, said if an appeal is filed, he is “confident” the city would win.

The eligibility of White as a Youngstown mayoral candidate has been in question for months, with city Law Director Lori Shells Simmons ruling he wasn’t eligible in a June 27 legal opinion because of a city charter violation.

The board of elections voted 4-0 last Tuesday to schedule Monday’s hearing on White’s eligibility.

The city charter reads: “The mayor shall be an elector and resident of the city for the five years immediately preceding the mayor’s election, and not less than 30 years of age.”

White registered to vote Feb. 5, 2021, and first voted May 4, 2021.

The board ruled Monday that the 2021 registration means White hasn’t been an elector of Youngstown for the five years immediately before this year’s election. That matched Shells Simmons’ legal opinion.

Myers argued that being an elector is one part of being eligible under the city charter and that being a resident of the city for five years is a separate issue.

D’Apolito said that the “and” in the charter proves that city residents wanted mayoral candidates to be electors and residents for at least five years.

“The word ‘and’ means both,” he said.

Board Chairman David Betras, an attorney, said he agreed with D’Apolito’s interpretation.

“Residents of the city voted on this,” Betras said. “John Q. Public would interpret it as an elector and a resident for five years. It’s the plain reading of what the people voted on.”

Myers also contended that even if that is correct, the city charter doesn’t define the word “elector,” and under state law he said an elector is someone who is registered for at least 30 days, such as White.

But D’Apolito and the board said that because Youngstown includes the provision to be an eligible mayoral candidate in its city charter, state law’s definition doesn’t matter. The city has an additional requirement of being an elector for at least five years, they said.

Betras said Youngstown has the right to include additional requirements in its city charter for mayoral candidates.

“I’m always for people’s suffrage, but Youngstown residents voted on this charter,” he said.

The board voted on July 6, 2021, that White wasn’t eligible to be a Youngstown mayoral candidate for the 2021 election based on a June 12, 2021, legal opinion from Jeff Limbian, then the city’s law director, based on his interpretation of the charter provision.

At the time, Myers objected and threatened legal action. But the matter was dropped when it was discovered White had voted in the Democratic primary after filing as an independent for mayor. Voting in a partisan primary after filing as an independent in Ohio disqualifies a candidate from running.

Instead, White’s wife ran as a write-in candidate for mayor in 2021 and finished in third place.

After The Vindicator reported May 2 that the elections board and Shells Simmons would again question his eligibility, White was arrested by Liberty police that day on two felony counts for an alleged domestic disturbance with his wife, Youngstown Councilwoman Amber White, I-7th Ward, as a result of the article. A Trumbull County grand jury declined to indict him on June 13. At the time, White was in the county jail for violating the terms of his bond by allegedly harassing his wife.

Amber White told police that the argument escalated when she said she wouldn’t again run for mayor as she did in 2021.

If a court doesn’t overturn the board of elections’ decision, the Youngstown mayoral race will be between incumbent Democrat Jamael Tito Brown, seeking his third four-year term, and independent Derrick McDowell, founder of the Youngstown Flea.

CAMPBELL CANDIDATE

Before White’s hearing, the board overturned its decision from last Tuesday to not certify Mary Janek as a Campbell City Council 3rd Ward candidate.

The board didn’t certify Janek last week because she failed to identify what ward seat she was seeking on her nominating petitions.

But Janek said she was given documentation by the board of elections to follow the city charter of Campbell when getting signatures on petitions. The charter only requires Janek to provide her name, address and what office she is seeking, which is city council and not the specific ward.

That is in conflict with state statute.

But because the Campbell’s charter doesn’t require the ward on nominating petitions, it supersedes state law on this specific issue, Betras said.

“People voted in a chart that does not require a ward,” Betras said. “It’s a pretty compelling argument.”

The board voted 4-0 on Monday to put Janek on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The only other candidate who filed for the 3rd Ward was Ryan J. Young, who was recently appointed to the seat.