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Spoonamore Case

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WOOSTER — Like the Secretary of State’s Office, the Wayne County Board of Elections has filed paperwork with the courts declaring its intention to appeal a judge’s order to certify the petitions of an unaffiliated candidate and put his name on the November ballot.
The case involves Stephen Spoonamore, who is seeking to run as an unaffiliated candidate for state representative in District 1. Ron Amstutz is term-limited and cannot run again. Republican Scott Wiggam prevailed in the March primary, and he is definitely on the ballot.
Spoonamore’s fate will either rest with time or the Ninth District Court of Appeals. The court does not have an expedited appeals process for election cases like the Ohio Supreme Court.
The certification of the petitions had been delayed when Secretary of State Jon Husted broke a 2-2 tie, joining the board’s two Republicans, concluding Spoonamore could not run as an independent because minutes after filing his petitions, he requested and cast a Democratic Party ballot in the March primary election.
Spoonamore filed a writ of mandamus, a legal action asking the court to …show more content…

The probable issues raised by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, which is representing Husted, are whether the trial court lacked jurisdiction over Spoonamore’s complaint due to a lack of service and service of process upon Husted; and whether the trial court erred in concluding Husted abused his discretion by breaking the tie vote in favor of rejecting the certification of Spoonamore’s petition.
Shaker also asked the appeals court to consolidate both

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