A copy of the protest petition and video from the hearing are below
City resident Ben Stahler’s campaign for the at-large president of Bellefontaine City Council seat remains on track.
The Logan County Board of Elections voted unanimously Wednesday morning, Aug. 6, to deny fellow city resident Bernard Iven’s petition of protest seeking to decertify Stahler’s petition to run as an independent candidate for the seat.
During an approximately 90-minute special hearing, the board heard testimony from Stahler, Iven and attorney Josh Brown, who represented Iven in the matter.
The board deliberated for about 20 minutes and rendered its decision with board chairman Steve Fansler providing the rationale for the board’s decision.
In addition to Fansler, other board members present were Robert Fulton, Kathryn Clark and Ranae Lentz.
During the hearing, attorney Brown submitted that Stahler attended a Lincoln Day dinner March 31 sponsored by the Logan County Republican Party and on the following day, April 1, filed his petition to run as an independent candidate for the council seat.
The counselor and his client also showed photos of Stahler at various past Republican events as evidence exhibits and said he donated to the local GOP at those events.
Brown told the board Stahler’s present day state-of-mind on political issues and his vague answers to the attorney’s at times broadly framed questions go to the former city mayor’s credibility as a viable independent candidate.
Brown also asked Stahler personal questions, such as if the former city mayor voted for Donald Trump, which Stahler declined to answer.
The board found the petitioner’s arguments irrelevant.
In his explanation of why the board decided to deny Iven’s petition, Fansler said the burden of proof in the hearing was on the protester (Iven), and that “election laws say that we should construe liberally in favor of the candidates for public office.”
Fansler said petitioners must show clear and convincing evidence, above and beyond the preponderance of evidence in a typical civil matter.
“We did not receive any such evidence.”
Citing an Ohio Supreme Court case, Fansler said party affiliation: A. Is purely a matter of self identification; B. That self identification is subject to change; C. That previous registration or political action does not control board of elections determinations; D. That prior voting history alone does not control BOE determinations; and E. motives for disaffiliation from a political party are not the relevant consideration for the BOE to base its decision.
Neither Iven nor his attorney provided evidence that Stahler acted in bad faith in filing as an independent candidate, Fansler noted.
Nor was the petitioner able to show Stahler in any way supported or affiliated with a particular party after his April 1 petition filing, the board said in its ruling, which was the crux of the matter in the body making its determination.
When Iven was asked by a board member if he was aware of any partisan position or action taken by Mr. Stahler after he filed as an independent candidate, Iven said, “No.”
Stahler has changed his party affiliation at times during his several decades of local public service.
During two terms on city council in the 1990s, Stahler was a registered Democrat. When he ran for his second full term as mayor in 2019, he switched to the Republican Party.
He said during the hearing his decision to become an independent candidate was gradual and not sudden as the protest petitioner’s attorney claimed.
Stahler BOE protest petition
