Diane Noonan, director of the Butler County Board of Elections, said city Law Director Heather Lewis contacted her last week about the election issues, and the city’s consideration of improving petitions and deadlines.
One problem Hamilton candidates have faced when filing to run for city council is the need to notarize the petition forms, something other local governments don’t require.
In the past, “We had a couple petitions that were turned away — they had to get more petitions,” because of incorrectly filled-out forms, Noonan said.
Another tricky part of Hamilton’s petition form is a line for someone’s signature: Some candidates have incorrectly thought it is a place for the candidate to sign, when actually, it’s a place for the petition’s circulator’s signature. The wrong signature is a disqualifier, Noonan said.
“If the name of the circulator is not there, then the whole petition is null and void,” Noonan said. “That’s another problem.”
If candidates file paperwork early enough, they can go out and get new documents before the deadline passes. But: “If they put it in at the last minute, then they don’t have a chance to go get more signatures,” she said.
Also, candidates running for mayor or council in Hamilton must file their paperwork to run by Aug. 24 this year under the charter. That deadline is different from most other local governments, where candidates must file by Aug. 9. Middletown council candidates also have an Aug. 24 deadline this year. Aside from those governments, only the deadlines for Sharonville, which is mostly in Hamilton County, vary from the Aug. 9 date this year. Sharonville’s deadlines are Feb. 1 for party-affiliated candidates and May 1 for independents.
Any confusion that keeps candidates from being on the ballot is not good, Noonan said.
“We don’t want anyone not to get on the ballot,” she said. “We’re here to put on elections. None of us want to exclude anyone, especially on something that’s because he didn’t sign something. But we also have to follow the guidelines of the secretary of state.”
For candidates across the county who could use help figuring out the forms, the elections board plans an hour-long workshop, 6 p.m. March 15 at the Board of Elections offices, 1802 Princeton Road.
“Right now we are the only one that does not use their standard (petition) form, and we also have to file ours … on a different date,” Fiehrer said. “It’s an exception for the (county) board of elections. It’s just completely different.”
In the past, “we talked about going ahead and following what every other jurisdiction does, and it didn’t get put on the ballot,” Fiehrer said. But for the change to happen, “It has to be done through the ballot.”
When might the committee be convened?
“We’ve just started talking about it,” Wile said last week. “If there are issues the city wants to wrap its arms around, I would say probably sometime between now and the end of March we’ll say, ‘OK, we’re going to have the committee.’”
Another possible area of change: The civil-service part of the charter. Among things that have been suggested for alteration is the fact that one of the three Civil Service Commission members is appointed by the Hamilton Board of Education (the other two by city council). One rationale for having all three appointed by the city is that the Civil Service Commission since Jan. 1, 2016 no longer performs work for the school district, such as recruiting new employees or giving employment exams for district employment.
Council Member Rob Wile suggested that when the committee is convened, council should suggest a couple areas that should be the panel’s primary focus, “and charge them with a timeline to do it … and rather than try to boil the ocean, we focus on a couple things.”
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