Board of Elections Director Jeff Rezabek said a hearing would have to be held by Wednesday, and a decision in favor of Smith, for him to appear on the Nov. 4 ballot. That would require a majority of the four-member board of elections to agree to hold a hearing.
Montgomery County Board of Elections Chair Rhine McLin, a Democrat, said she tried to get the board together for a reconsideration hearing. But so far only she and fellow-Democrat Mohamed Al-Hamdani are willing.
The other two board members are Republicans Thomas Routsong and Erik Blaine.
“I’m really disappointed that they are not allowing the process to take place for a reconsideration hearing for Mr. Smith,” McLin said. “I don’t see any rhyme or reason why we shouldn’t give this man a reconsideration.”
It’s important for voters and the people who run for office to see how the process works, McLin said.
“At this point it seems a bit political to me,” said Al-Hamdani, who also is chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party. “They’re trying help their Republican colleagues to avoid a legitimate race.”
Al-Hamdani said there is a precedent for allowing candidates to use affidavits to challenge their petitions being thrown out.
“If the shoe was on the other foot I would have no doubt that this hearing would be scheduled,” he said.
Republican responds
The signatures weren’t the only issue with Smith’s petitions, said Routsong, who said Smith admitted during last week’s vote that there were two people who circulated a single petition.
“It was a blatant violation against the elections manual,” said Routsong, who noted that each person would need to collect signatures on a separate petition.
“I’m really sorry, candidates spend so much time to go out and get signatures. It’s a shame, it really is because God knows we need good, qualified candidates to run for office,” he said.
Smith said that never happened — that he didn’t have two people circulating a single petition.
A recording of the Sept. 9 meeting posted to the Montgomery County Board of Elections Facebook page shows Smith did not say during the meeting that he had multiple people circulate a single petition.
Routsong said his decision is not political, that he thought Smith was a Republican.
“I don’t want to know if a candidate is a Republican or a Democrat. I want to know that he’s gone through the hoops to become a candidate,” he said.
Messages were left with board member Blaine.
Partisan breakdown
Smith has no declared political party affiliation, according to Montgomery County voter registration records.
The Kettering council is a nonpartisan race. According to county voter registration records for the three certified candidates, Laura Arber is a Democrat, Dan Palmer has no declared party, and Tyler Scott is a Republican.
They are running for two at-large seats. No incumbents are running because Jacque Fisher, vice mayor and at-large councilwoman, reached her term limit and is unable to run again, and Jyl Hall resigned her seat last month because she moved to Kentucky.
Staff Writer Sydney Dawes contributed to this report.
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