YOUNGSTOWN — Nine potential candidates asked the Mahoning County Board of Elections to reconsider decisions to not certify them with three of them put on the Nov. 4 ballot after enough valid signatures were found on their nominating petitions.

The board had nine reconsideration hearings Tuesday for those rejected at an Aug. 18 meeting for ballot certification. Among the three were two for the Youngstown school board — incumbent Tina Cvetkovich and challenger Million Perry-Phifer.

Perry-Phifer submitted petitions with 185 signatures, needing 150 to qualify. The board at its Aug. 18 meeting determined he had 141 valid signatures.

But Perry-Phifer on Tuesday brought in notarized affidavits from 11 people who printed their names on his petitions and had one person in attendance swear that she printed her name.

State elections law doesn’t permit boards of elections to accept printed names rather than signatures as valid unless it can be proven, typically through a notarized affidavit or in-person testimony, that they printed their names.

Cvetkovich had her candidacy rejected Aug. 18 by the board because of a lack of valid signatures. Cvetkovich failed to put the year of the election on one of her nominating petitions, nullifying it and all the signatures on that document. That left her with 147 valid signatures when she needed at least 150 to qualify.

Cvetkovich said she didn’t have the money for a notary to go with her to get at least three affidavits from those who printed their name on her petitions.

She also said she tried to FaceTime at least three people who printed their names on petitions, but couldn’t get a cellphone signal.

For what is believed to be the first time, the board permitted two circulators of Cvetkovich’s petitions to swear under oath that they witnessed people sign the petitions. One said he witnessed two people sign a petition and the other said she witnessed one person sign a petition.

That gave Cvetkovich 150 valid signatures.

Jaladah Aslam, president of the Youngstown Warren Black Caucus, questioned if this was going to be the board’s new policy as it went against longstanding past practice.

Board Chairman David Betras said it would be acceptable because requiring people to pay for a notary could disenfranchise them as candidates.

Also Tuesday, the board agreed to put Tonya Dean on the ballot for a West Branch school board seat. Dean filed with 28 signatures. She needed 25 to qualify and the board last month determined 24 were valid.

Dean provided three notarized affidavits — one person printed his name, one had an illegible signature and one used a P.O. Box instead of her address. The board didn’t rule on each of the three individually, but determined Dean had enough valid signatures.

The board heard arguments Tuesday from Kenneth M. Donaldson, an incumbent Youngstown school board member, who failed to get certified Aug. 18 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. There isn’t an unexpired term on the school board.

Donaldson said the sample petition provided by the elections board to help candidates by highlighting what needs to be marked doesn’t distinguish that a candidate shouldn’t fill in both full term and unexpired term. There isn’t an unexpired term on the ballot.

“That doesn’t seem to be fair to me,” Betras said of the board’s sample petition being unclear even though Donaldson was the only candidate to make the error.

Betras was going to urge the board to let Donaldson on the ballot until it was pointed out that the school board member also had the incorrect date of the term on his nominating petitions.

After that was discovered, the board declined to put Donaldson on the ballot.

The board rejected all of the other requests for reconsideration.

Victoria DeJesus, who wanted to run for Campbell school board, needed 25 valid signatures to qualify. Of the 35 signatures she submitted, 24 were deemed valid by the board of elections. That didn’t change Tuesday.

Two incumbent members of New Middletown Village Council — Laura Consiglio and Stephen Ingold — requested reconsideration, which the board rejected Tuesday.

Consiglio filled in the date of the election on her nominating petition as she turned it in while Ingold failed to list the number of signatures collected.

George Wallace Jr., another incumbent New Middletown councilman, also had his petitions rejected Aug. 18 by the elections board because he didn’t fill out the circulator’s statement on his nominating petition. He didn’t request reconsideration.

With the three not certified and no one filing as a candidate or even as a write-in, incumbent John Mraulak is the lone candidate for the four council seats on the Nov. 4 ballot.

While Dean was returned to the ballot for West Branch school board, the elections board on Tuesday rejected appeals from incumbent Joseph Matthew Courtwright and Karen Sue Harris for reconsideration. Courtwright failed to fill out his circulator’s statement and the date on Harris’ declaration of candidacy is after signatures were collected. Both are considered fatal flaws under state law.

The board also decertified David M. Yaggi as a West Branch school board candidate Tuesday after the Columbiana County Board of Elections found Yaggi, an incumbent, signed a petition after circulating it. The school district includes parts of Mahoning, Columbiana and Stark counties.

The board also removed incumbent Patrick C. Bundy as a write-in candidate for the Struthers school board.

The board refused to certify Bundy as a school board candidate on Aug. 18 because he previously filed to run as a Republican for Struthers City Council’s 3rd Ward seat

Bundy then filed as a write-in candidate.

The board determined that wasn’t permissible.

Bundy was not certified Aug. 18 because state law doesn’t permit him to run for the two positions in the same election year, said board Director Tom McCabe.