Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld and City Council candidate Mike Moroski are both facing issues that could keep them off the ballot this November, but both candidates are renewing their petition drives to correct the issues before it’s too late.
Council candidates must file 500 valid petition signatures to the Hamilton County Board of Elections by Aug. 22 to get on the ballot, but two different circumstances are putting those prospects in doubt for Moroski and Sittenfeld.
In Moroski’s case, he fell 46 signatures short of the 500 needed. Because the petitions were already filed, he now has to regather all of the necessary signatures and file them to the Board of Elections.
Moroski told CityBeat that he’s already collected more than 200 signatures in the past 24 hours and intends to turn in a batch of 800 to 900 before the filing deadline.
“We’re determined to get on the ballot, and we’re determined to win,” he says.
For Sittenfeld, the circumstances are a little more technical: Because dates were crossed out on various petitions and corrected on the back of the forms, the board isn’t sure whether the rules allow them to accept the signatures. If the petitions aren’t accepted, Sittenfeld would fall under the 500-signature threshold, even though more than 700 valid signatures were confirmed, according to Sittenfeld’s campaign.
To avoid the problems entirely, Sittenfeld is now regathering the necessary signatures.
“The four board members of the (Board of Elections) will make the final decision on the validity of my petitions and I hope and believe it is unlikely that they will invalidate my signatures,” Sittenfeld said in an emailed statement to supporters. “However, I am leaving nothing to chance and am determined to continue serving the citizens of our community.”
Both candidates are asking supporters who signed the old petitions to come back to them and sign the new ones. If not, they might not appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.
