YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Board of Elections voted against certifying 21 candidates, including nine incumbents, because of issues with their nominating petitions.

The board also voted Monday against certifying two liquor options — a weekly and a Sunday option on the same petition — for Danalyn’s Restaurant on South Avenue in Boardman.

“The bar is so low for petitions,” said David Betras, the election board’s chairman.

Director Tom McCabe said one problem is that people download petitions from websites and don’t come to the board’s office to get them, so they may be collecting signatures on an incorrect document.

Of the 21 not certified by the board Monday, several were for not having enough valid signatures.

Patrick Sculli and John Schuler, who were both seeking to run for the Canfield school board, filed nominating petitions with 24 signatures when they needed at least 25 to be valid, so they weren’t going to qualify regardless. The board found both to have 23 valid signatures.

“That’s kind of an easy one” to not certify, Betras said. “You’ve got to have 25 and you submit with only 24.”

That leaves two candidates running in the Nov. 4 election for three seats on the school board.

Aug. 25 is the write-in deadline to qualify for the general election. However, those who weren’t certified Monday by the board cannot file as write-in candidates.

Others not certified because of a lack of valid signatures were Duane Edward Delahunt II for Canfield City Council, Shomore Irene Wright for the educational service center board, Victoria DeJesus for Campbell school board, Tonya Dean for West Branch school board, and Million Perry-Phifer for Youngstown school board.

Delahunt needed 50 valid signatures. He turned in petitions with 51 signatures and 47 were determined to be valid.

Wright also needed 50 valid signatures. She turned in petitions with 53 signatures and 42 were deemed valid.

Dean filed with 28 signatures, needed 25 to qualify and the board determined 24 were valid.

Perry-Phifer submitted petitions with 185 signatures. He needed 150 to qualify and the board verified 141 as valid.

The board also didn’t certify two incumbent Youngstown school board members.

That included Tina Cvetkovich, who failed to put the year of the election on one of her nominating petitions. That nullified that petition and left her with 147 valid signatures when she needed at least 150 to qualify.

But board members said Cvetkovich, Dean and possibly Perry-Phifer could qualify as some of the signatures weren’t validated because people printed their names rather than use cursive, which is required under state law. But if the candidates not certified can bring affidavits from enough people who printed their names on petitions attesting that they print their signatures, the board could reconsider their eligibility, McCabe said.

The board declined to certify Kenneth M. Donaldson, an incumbent Youngstown school board member, to the ballot because he checked that he was running for a full-term on the board as well as for an unexpired term, which isn’t permissible. It doesn’t matter that there isn’t an unexpired term on the school board, McCabe said.

“Voters are being misled,” he said.

With Donaldson, Cvetkovich and Perry-Phifer not certified, only two candidates are running for the three seats on the board.

The board ruled Jennifer Ciccone ineligible for Poland trustee because she incorrectly identified Mahoning as her township on one of her petitions. There is no township named Mahoning in the county. With that petition thrown out, she only had 13 valid signatures when she needed 25 to qualify.

Ciccone lost a 2023 election for Struthers Municipal Court judge and a 2024 election for Mahoning County commissioner. Ciccone is the county’s deputy clerk of courts and was disqualified earlier this year from being an attorney in county domestic relations court because of her position.

Betras said, “Running the clerk of courts, she should know this and be smart enough to figure that out.”

With Ciccone off the ballot, there are six candidates for the two trustee seats.

They are Larry Dinopoulos, a Poland school board member; Michael Zembower Jr., a former Poland village councilman who resigned in February after moving to the township; Frank DeMain, director of national accounts for Aim Transportation Solutions and a former Poland Township police officer; Tracy Kaschak, who was named Poland teacher of the year earlier this year by the Poland Schools Foundation; and Steve Massarelli.

The board didn’t certify Patrick C. Bundy, an incumbent Struthers school board member, to the ballot because he previously filed to run as a Republican for Struthers City Council’s 3rd Ward seat.

State law doesn’t permit Bundy to run for the two positions in the same election year, McCabe said. Since Bundy was certified months ago for the council seat, the board didn’t permit him to seek reelection to the school board.

Without Bundy as a school board candidate, three others remain for the three available seats.

Three of the four incumbent members of the New Middletown Village Council weren’t certified by the board.

George Wallace Jr.’s candidacy was rejected because he didn’t fill out the circulator’s statement on his nominating petition, which is considered a fatal flaw under state election law.

The board rejected Laura Consiglio’s petition because she filled in the date of the election on the document as she was turning them in, which isn’t permissible.

Stephen Ingold failed to list the number of signatures collected on his circulator’s statement.

With the three not qualifying for the Nov. 4 election, that leaves only incumbent John Mraulak as a candidate for four council seats.

The board rejected petitions for Kevin Haase for Boardman school board and Robert Lisko for Coitsville trustee because neither filled out the statement of candidacy, which is a fatal flaw under state election law. There are now three candidates for three Boardman school board seats and two candidates for two Coitsville trustees spots.

In addition to Dean, two other candidates running for West Branch school board failed to make the ballot because of problems with their petitions.

Incumbent Joseph Matthew Courtwright failed to fill out his circulator’s statement and the date on Karen Sue Harris’ petition is after signatures were collected, which isn’t permissible.

There were nine people who filed for the three full terms on the West Branch school board, with six getting certified.

David H. Wilson, who wanted to run for the Lowellville school board, wasn’t certified because he didn’t include the year of the election on his nominating petitions. That leaves four candidates running for three seats on the Lowellville board.

Kristine M. Shoemaker, an incumbent member of the Beloit Board of Public Affairs, didn’t include the number of signatures collected on her petition and wasn’t certified. That leaves one incumbent on the ballot for two board seats on the ballot.

Incumbent Jasmine M. Henning of the West Branch school board signed her statement of candidacy after collecting signatures, which is a fatal flaw under state election law. That leaves only one candidate running for three full-term seats on the West Branch board. No one filed for an unexpired term.

The board also removed Dennis Puskarcik as a candidate for Campbell City Council president after a Monday hearing on his eligibility. The board had certified him as a candidate on July 8.

Campbell Mayor George Levendis, who is running for his previous position of council president, challenged Puskarcik’s eligibility for the position because he doesn’t meet the residency requirement in the city charter.

In an Aug. 4 legal opinion, city Law Director Lamprini G. Mathews determined Puskarcik isn’t eligible. The board voted 4-0 Monday in agreement.

Section 2.05 of the Campbell charter states: “Each member of council shall be a qualified elector of the municipality and shall have resided therein or in a territory annexed thereto for a period of at least two years immediately prior to the date of filing of his declaration of candidacy for such office and shall continue to reside therein during his term.”

Based on board of elections records, Puskarcik registered as an elector in Campbell on Sept. 18, 2023, which is less than two years after he filed to run for council president.

Puskarcik said he moved to Campbell from Boardman four years ago, but didn’t change his voter registration at the time. Puskarcik admitted he voted in the November 2022 election from his previous Boardman address.

After the board vote, Puskarcik said, “I’ll be back in two years.”

Rocky’s Drive Thru in Smith Township submitted a petition for liquor options — one for weekly and the other for Sunday — and wanted to see if the weekly option could be withdrawn.

Because they’re both on the same petition, it is unlikely that would be permitted, McCabe said. The board will seek a legal opinion from the county prosecutor’s office.

In a letter, a representative of the business said if the weekly option couldn’t be withdrawn, both would stay on the ballot.