Elections board corrects status of Council candidate

By Robert Mihalek

The Greene County Board of Elections issued a correction at the end of last week on the status of Carmen Brown, the Village Council hopeful who, after having her petition invalidated, said she would run for office as a write-in candidate.

Llyn McCoy, the deputy director of the Board of Elections, said on Friday that the board’s director, Tracy Smith, incorrectly told the News earlier in the week that Brown was eligible to run as a write-in candidate.

Brown said she also received the same, incorrect, information from an employee at the board office.

McCoy said that because Brown filed a petition to get her name on the Nov. 8 ballot, she is prohibited by state law from initiating a write-in campaign. McCoy described the intent of the law as seeking to prevent “sore losers” from running for office after their petitions have been declared invalid.

McCoy said she gave Smith incorrect information about Brown’s attempt to run as a write-in candidate, which he then passed on to the News.

Brown said that the new information won’t discourage her from participating in the community. “It’s important for other people of my age and income bracket to do the same, especially people with children” said Brown, who is 31 and has a child. She added that people do live in Yellow Springs who make under $40,000. Brown said she fits that income category.

She said that she plans to run for Council during the next local election, in 2007.

The Board of Elections determined that Brown’s petition to run for Council did not have enough valid signatures, and therefore, her name would not appear on the ballot. Brown collected 40 signatures, 8 of which were invalid, Smith has said. Council candidates needed to collect 35 signatures from Yellow Springs voters.

Seven candidates will be listed on the ballot for the Council race: Bruce Rickenbach, who was appointed to Council in April, and challengers John Blakelock, Kathryn Chase, Frank Doden, Judith Hempfling, Kathryn Van der Heiden and Karen Wintrow.

The two candidates with the most votes will receive four-year terms, and the candidate who receives the third highest number of votes earns a two-year term.