Elections board probes possible irregularities

CELINA - The board of elections will subpoena 38 Mercer County residents who signed petitions for the so-called Drug Price Relief Act as part of an effort to determine if circulators violated state law.

The residents will be called to testify at a public hearing at 9 a.m. Jan. 27 in the courthouse auditorium. They'll be asked, among other things, whether the out-of-state circulators witnessed them signing their names as required by law.

"Did a person hand this to you or was it just laying around?" county assistant prosecutor Andy Hinders offered as a potential question.

Board member Phil Long said those subpoenaed should "understand that they're not being punished" and the board is following a state directive to re-review the petitions. This can be done, they believe, only through a public hearing.

Board members made their decision during a four-hour meeting on Monday. Secretary of State Jon Husted last week ordered all county boards of elections to complete by Jan. 29 a second review of petitions supporting the initiated statute known as The Drug Price Relief Act. Husted cited statewide inconsistencies in part-petitions.

Petition supporters, including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, say they've met the state's requirements to force lawmakers to consider the Ohio Drug Price Relief Act. The proposal is aimed at keeping state entities from paying more for drugs than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs does. They have sued seeking to have the initiative certified and sent to lawmakers.

However, Husted said a statewide review found most petitions included potentially improper redactions of signatures.

He also alleged "an alarming discrepancy in the number of actual signatures on petitions when compared to the number circulators of the petitions reported to have witnessed."

All Ohio boards of elections have been ordered to determine whether signatures were improperly removed and if the circulators witnessed the affixing of every signature reported.

The local board received 17 part-petitions containing 80 residents' signatures, according to directors Deb Sneddon and Laura Bruns.

"The whole thing is filed as one instrument as a petition. It was filed at the secretary of state's office," Sneddon said.

The directors, following the elections officials manual, initially validated 71 of the 80 signatures, Bruns said,.

"If the number of signatures reported in the statement is equal to or greater than the total number of signatures not crossed out on the part-petition, then the board does not reject that part-petition because of inconsistent signature numbers," she said.

After receiving Husted's directive, Hinders discovered five concerns with the circulators' actions.

A petition circulated by Ashley Daly of Swartz Creek, Mich., reported 28 signatures but contains only three. Another petition by Daly reported 28 signatures but contains only 23. A petition by Nathan Malatt of St. Petersburg, Fla., reported 28 signatures but contains only four. A petition by Cody Eldred of St. Petersburg, Fla. reported 28 signatures but contains only five. A petition by Olynthia Jackson of Philadelphia, Pa., has a deleted or "blacked-out" signature and no indication of the reason why it was deleted.

Hinders said a hearing "is just about the only way to reconsider (the petitions); otherwise you're just sitting, looking at the same papers you looked at before."

"Right now you're under orders from your boss, the secretary of state, to review these petitions," he added.

Hinders on Monday initially recommended the board subpoena the out-of-state circulators.

"The likelihood in the real world of us getting these people subpoenaed is pretty close to zero. But all we can do is try," he said.

Board member Craig Klopfleisch said he was struggling to balance the board's fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers and its duties to the state.

"On the one hand, yeah, you want to do what the boss says. On the other hand, we do have kind of a responsibility to the taxpayers to not squander their funds" on travel expenses for those subpoenaed and extra work.

The board, Hinders said, is an arm of the secretary of state's office, and the only way to shed new light on the petitions is to interview people.

"And without someone to give you facts, all you've got are some dry pieces of paper," Hinder said.

Klopfleisch moved that the entire board re-review the of the five part-petitions petitions to determine their validity since the directors, not board members, initially validated them. The suggestion was defeated along party lines, with Democrats Klopfleisch and Long voting "yes" and Republicans Toni Slusser and Del Kramer voting "no."

Slusser then moved to subpoena all signers, circulators and their legal representatives.

Long said the cost would be "outlandishly" expensive.

"A monetary situation doesn't relieve us from our statutory duty," Slusser replied.

The motion was defeated 3-1, with Slusser casting the sole "yes" vote.

Board members then compromised, with Klopfleisch moving to subpoena just the 38 signers of the five part-petitions. It passed 4-0.

Those called to testify will be paid mileage and $6 for a half-day of work, according to Hinders.   

- The Associated Press contributed to this report.