(1-18-24) Arienne Childrey, a Democrat, will face Republican Incumbent Angie King in November for the Ohio 84th House District.

The Mercer County Board of Elections this morning decided not to hold a vote on a complaint concerning Childrey’s candidacy after a complaint was filed by Mercer County Republican Party Chairman Bob Hibner.

However; that leaves in question if a state law was broken and was not questioned by the Board of Elections when Childrey’s previous name was not included. The complaint by the Republican party may not be valid, but the petitions should still be invalid if the law is followed. A decision that the board should be able to make.

Section 3513.271 (portion)

If any person desiring to become a candidate for public office has had a change of name within five years immediately preceding the filing of his statement of candidacy, both his statement of candidacy and nominating petition must contain, immediately following the person’s present name, the person’s former names. Any person who has been elected under the person’s changed name, without submission of the person’s former name, shall be immediately suspended from the office and the office declared vacated, and shall be liable to the state for any salary the person has received while holding such office. The attorney general in the case of candidates for state offices, the prosecuting attorney of the most populous county in a district in the case of candidates for district offices, and the prosecuting attorney of the county in the case of all other candidates shall institute necessary action to enforce this section.

No information has been released on the item in question if it met the time requirement of five years when a name change takes place and needs to be on the petition. The board would seem to have an obligation to investigate the issue or in the future violations could be overlooked by the election office and be place on the ballot.

From the Mercer County Board of Elections:

PRESS RELEASE

“Under Ohio law, protests against a candidate for party nomination or for election to an office or position can only be filed by a qualified elector of the same political party as the candidate. In this instance, Mr.
Hibner is a registered as a republican, and cannot validly file a protest against the democratic party candidate. Today the Board of Elections confirmed the decision to invalidate the protest.

The Board took no further action and Candidate Childrey will appear on the ballot.”