WARREN — The Trumbull County Board of Elections didn’t certify seven candidates, including five incumbents, to the Nov. 4 ballot because of problems with their nominating petitions.

Director Stephanie Penrose said board employees provide a checklist of how to properly fill out petitions when candidates pick up the forms at its office — and it’s on the board’s website — to make the process go smoothly.

“We do everything but fill these out for them and circulate them,” Penrose said during a Thursday elections board meeting.

She said: “We don’t like taking bad petitions. We tell them, ‘Please go over this and look at each part petition and make sure you have everything done.'”

Some candidates get nominating petitions on other websites and they don’t look at the information provided by the board as to how to correctly fill them out, Penrose said.

Board employees aren’t permitted to check nominating petitions before candidates submit them, but the checklist provides the needed information, Penrose said.

More than 150 candidates filed for elected office — including township trustee, village council and school board — by the Aug. 6 deadline. The board certified all but seven.

Three candidates, including two incumbents, weren’t certified Thursday because they signed and dated their petitions after signatures were collected, Penrose said. State election law doesn’t give boards of elections any other option than to not certify in those instances, she said.

The candidates who weren’t certified for that reason were Bloomfield Trustee Jason Gwinn, Vernon Trustee Jeffrey P. McGhee, and Tim Gilliand, who filed for Hubbard Township trustee.

Gilliand had another problem with his petitions. He printed them at home and had one front page and three back pages to his petitions, Penrose said. Each petition submitted must have a front and back page.

With Gilliand not certified, there are three other candidates running for the two Hubbard trustee seats on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The situations in Bloomfield and Vernon are more of an issue.

McGhee was the only candidate who filed for the two Vernon trustee seats, leaving no candidates on the ballot.

With Gwinn off the ballot, only the name of incumbent Trustee Roger M. Peterson Jr. will be in front of voters for two Bloomfield trustee spots.

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

Mecca Trustee Dan Galbincea failed to get certified by the board because he didn’t fill out the circulator’s statement on his nominating petition, which is considered a fatal flaw under state election law.

With Galbincea off the ballot, the lone candidate for the two full-term seats is incumbent Trustee Christen Clemson. There are two candidates running for an unexpired term for trustee in Mecca.

Aaron Abrahamson, a Champion school board member, failed to get certified because he didn’t fill out the nominating section on one of his petitions. That meant all of the signatures on that petition weren’t counted and he didn’t have enough valid signatures to qualify.

That leaves the two other incumbents — Marie J. Downs and David J. Mahan — as the only candidates on the ballot for three seats.

Daniel L. Denman, a Maplewood school board member, wasn’t certified because sign or put his address on the circulator’s section of his petition, which is an automatic disqualification under state election law.

With Denman not being certified, there are four other candidates, including the two other incumbents, on the Nov. 4 ballot for the three Maplewood school board seats.

The board also didn’t certify Adam Rogers, a candidate for Braceville trustee, because of a lack of valid signatures.

Rogers turned in nominating petitions with 26 signatures. He needed 25 valid to qualify and the board found 22 to be valid.

However, Rogers can still get certified because at least three people who signed his petitions printed their names rather than use their signature, Penrose said. If Rogers can bring affidavits from at least three people who printed their names on his petition saying they signed them the board could certify his candidacy.

Rogers also failed to include the office he is seeking on his petitions. But because trustee is the only township position on the ballot it is not a noncompliance issue, Penrose said.

Without Rogers on the ballot, there are three candidates running for two trustee seats.

After some discussion, the board certified the candidacy of Scott Strain for a seat on the Girard school board. Strain left the election date off of one of his nominating petitions. The board ruled Strain’s petitions were “substantially compliant” with state law and certified him. He is among three candidates for two full-term seats on the Girard school board.

The elections board also discussed the candidacy of Laura Rubesich, who is seeking a seat on the educational service center board. Rubesich didn’t include her home school district of Howland on the petitions. But like Strain, the elections board determined Rubesich’s petitions were “substantially compliant.”

She is among five candidates running for two seats on the educational service center board.

NEW POLLING LOCATION

The board is relocating its polling location for all four Newton Falls precincts from Vinny’s of Newton Falls, a banquet center, to Newton Falls High School.

The board has used Vinny’s for the past couple of years, but was informed that it couldn’t use the center anymore.

Vinny’s is being auctioned off Sept. 3.

The high school will have a separate entrance for those voting from the regular entrance used by students and faculty during the election.