Candidate asked BOE to reconsider signatures

After falling short on initial certification for the Ironton mayor’s race, candidate Kelly Greco-Smith has now met the required number of signatures and will appear on the November general election ballot.

The board said on Wednesday that Greco-Smith did not meet certification, and did not have the required 300 signatures from voters, but the candidate asked the board to reconsider.

Board of elections director Cathy Snider said that two signatures, originally considered to be duplicates, were deemed valid, giving Greco-Smith 301 signatures, one more than needed in final certification on Friday.

On Monday, Greco-Smith posted a screenshot of The Tribune’s story on the initial certification on her Facebook page.

In a press release sent to media, Greco-Smith took issue with the article, stating it was done “without verifying the information with the Lawrence County Board of Elections on Friday, August 25th at 4:00 PM to have an accurate list to report.”

Information on the initial certification was provided to the Tribune in an in-person visit to the Board of Elections on Wednesday.

The final certification occurred after the weekend edition press time on Friday. Other media outlets similarly reported the intially-invalidated signatures.

Greco-Smith will face incumbent Mayor Samuel Cramblit II on the November ballot, as well as Amanda Cleary, Chris Perry and Hugh Scott.

There were no further changes to the ballot in final certification, Snider said.

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Original article, from Aug, 26, 2023 edition of The Tribune:

Greco-Smith falls short of certification

The general election ballot has been certified for November and, as some candidates failed to meet the number of required signatures, some races in Lawrence County now see a smaller field of candidates.

Most notably, the Ironton mayor’s race is now down to four candidates, as mayoral hopeful Kelly Greco-Smith failed to attain certification, with her number of valid signatures falling short of the ballot requirement. Greco-Smith currently serves as field representative for Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague.

Another hopeful, Anthony Bazell, did not submit his signatures, Lawrence County Board of Elections officials said.

As a result, the mayoral field is now narrowed to four candidates, with incumbent Mayor Samuel Cramblit II facing council member Chris Perry, former council member and church deacon Hugh Scott and nonprofit Third and Center founder Amanda Cleary on the ballot.

The Ironton City Council race also saw a change once the board certified the ballot on Aug. 17, with DJ Cohenour Jr. and Lindsey Marshall falling short.

This leaves the council ballot with six candidates: Robert Brown, Douglas Davis, Sandra Gayhart, Chris Haney, Jacob Hock and Mike Pierce.

Other races in the county that saw changes:

• In the Hanging Rock Village Council race, Kimberly Chinn did not make the ballot.

• In the Proctorville Village Council race, Tony Lovejoy Jr. did not make the ballot.

• In the Chesapeake school board race, Nate Adkins did not make the ballot.

• In the Elizabeth Township fiscal officer race, Natalie Shope did not make the ballot.

• In the Washington Township fiscal officer race, Katrenda Lewis did not make the ballot. This leaves this office blank for the election.

• In the Washington Township trustee race, Corey Jones did not make the ballot.

Board officials review all signatures submitted by candidates on petitions, checking them against signatures on record, as well as addresses. Signatures can be rejected if information does not match or if a petition was filled out incorrectly.