YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Democratic Party is recruiting candidates to run for its central committee because there are some current members who don’t actively participate in the political process, its chairman said.

Chairman Chris Anderson said: “People holding the title isn’t the problem. The problem is not doing the work we’re trying to accomplish. Back 30, 40 years ago, it was a status symbol. Now, it’s the lifeblood of our party.”

All 212 precincts in the county will be up for election during the May 5 primary. The terms are for four years.

“The fact that we have central committee members who haven’t shown up for work for three-and-a-half years is a problem,” Anderson said. “We have some who are fantastic and work hard, we have some who only show up when it’s for them and some who never show up. We have people who are excited to be involved in the process, and we’re putting an emphasis on these seats because they represent the neighborhoods for the Democratic Party.”

Central committee members serve as the “chief liaison and organizer to your neighborhood for our party,” Anderson said.

The central committee members vote for party officials, including Anderson, who are all up for election in June; as well as vote on primary election endorsements, if there are any; and fill vacant elected positions should they occur.

“It’s also a great training ground for people to take a first step to run for higher office,” Anderson said.

Those who want to run for central committee seats are asked to go online to centralcommittee.mahoningdemocrats.org and fill out the form. Once that is done, the party will provide information on how to file paperwork.

Those who want to run on their own, just need to get five valid signatures on a nominating petition and submit it to the board of elections by the Feb. 4 filing deadline. Also, candidates can run as write-ins, without collecting signatures, and file by Feb. 23.

Anderson said there are currently about 30 vacant seats on the central committee.

“It’s not that we don’t have enough of them, it’s that we have people who view it as a status symbol and others who run because no one else wants to run so they do it time and time again,” Anderson said. “If I’ve never met them in the three-and-a-half years as chairman, then they’re probably not going to be asked to run again.”

He added: “We have a large volunteer base that’s ready to step up and do more. It’s a great opportunity to get more involved. For people who want to push back against Republican leadership, this is a great way to start.”

YOUNGSTOWN 6TH WARD

With Youngstown Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, resigning to start her new role Jan. 1 as council president, her seat will be vacant at the end of this month.

There are currently six Democratic central committee members in the ward and it would typically be their responsibility to appoint a successor to fill the final two years of Davis’ term.

But Anderson said three of the six members who represent the ward aren’t active in the party. He said he has doubts if he called a meeting to select Davis’ successor that there would be a quorum of at least four committee members needed to vote.

“It creates complications to fill the 6th Ward seat,” Anderson said. “If we had a functioning central committee we wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

The party cannot meet to replace Davis until at least five days after she resigns from her ward council seat and no more than 45 days later, Anderson said.

If it is determined that a quorum isn’t possible to vote for a replacement for Davis, Anderson said it then falls to the six other city council members to decide on her successor.

“I don’t want to send it to council,” he said. “We don’t want to do that. We have no desire to keep it vacant. We want to appoint ourselves. We have to figure out what that will look like.”