Jean Anderson campaign asks Ohio Supreme Court to put Beth Deck on Vermilion mayoral ballot as replacement

Former Vermilion mayoral candidate Jean Anderson, who withdrew from the race earlier this month, is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to allow replacement candidate Beth Deck's name to go on the ballot in November in her place. Attorney Gerald Phillips of Avon Lake, who is listed in court documents as chairman of the campaign committee for Jean A. Anderson, filed a mandamus action on Monday asking the Supreme Court to intervene. A mandamus action is a request to force an official to do their legally required duties. It asks the Ohio Supreme Court to force the Lorain County Board of Elections, made up of Republicans Marilyn Jacobcik and Mike Witte and Democrats Inez James and Anthony Giardini, as well as Director Paul Adams, to put Deck on the ballot. Adams referred all questions to the county prosecutor's office, and a message seeking comment was left for Leigh Prugh, chief assistant prosecutor of that office's Civil Division. In a news release, Phillips said he was taking action against the Board of Elections because it failed to put Deck on the ballot to replace Anderson at its Aug. 14 meeting, saying the Prosecutor's Office was reviewing the matter. Phillips said he got no response from the prosecutor's office at that meeting, nor did Adams get advice he requested from Secretary of State Frank LaRose's office. Phillips said on Aug. 15, he got a letter from the prosecutor's office "which opined that (Deck's) candidacy was not going to be considered as a replacement." The letter didn't include an explanation or legal analysis, said Phillips, who wrote that he was "shocked and totally surprised that the candidacy of Beth A. Deck was not considered." The legal action alleges "an abuse of discretion, a plain disregard to the election laws, bad faith, arbitrary action, unreasonable action, and violation of the Constitutional rights of access to the ballot in the lawsuit," according to Phillips' news release. "This lawsuit is needless and is unnecessary if the Board acted to protect the Constitutional rights of ballot access of the candidate and the voting." Vermilion mayor from 2006-2010, Anderson filed in February to run again, pitting her against newcomer Russ "Rusty" Owens. Incumbent Mayor Jim Forthofer is not running for reelection. At the time Anderson filed, she was allowed to select committee of five people to select her replacement if she had to withdraw from the race. She didn't do that, according to the Board of Elections. When Anderson withdrew from the race on Aug. 6, she and Phillips filed paperwork asking the Board of Elections to put Deck on the ballot in her place. Vermilion city charter doesn't say how you would fill a vacancy on the ballot in this circumstance, leaving it up to state law to decide. The Board of Elections asked the Prosecutor's Office to review the matter. The Ohio Revised Code says no alterations, corrections or additions can be made to a petition after it's filed for public office, and "All separate petition papers shall be filed at the same time, as one instrument." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.