State ex rel. Pringle v. Clermont Cty. Bd. of Elections

Citations

• 2019 Ohio 4528

Syllabus

Relator is not entitled to a writ of mandamus ordering board of elections to remove corporate surrender issue from the general election ballot. R.C. 703.20 permits petitions to surrender the corporate powers of a village to be filed with either the village's legislative authority or with the board of elections in the county in which a majority of the village's residents reside. R.C. 703.20 does not require petitions to first be filed with the village's legislative authority, which then triggers a 30-day waiting period during which the legislative authority determines the sufficiency of the petitions and calls for a special election in which the residents may vote on the issue. As amended in 2017, R.C. 703.20 allows the option of initially filing with the board of elections which may place the issue on the ballot at a special or general election. Board of elections did not violate R.C. 703.20 by not waiting at least 30 days before placing the issue on the ballot since the petitions were never filed with or submitted to the village's legislative authority.