On July 31, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted ruled in favor of two independent candidates seeking a place on the 2015 general election in two cities. See this story. Ohio law is very vague about who can qualify to be an independent candidate. Ohio doesn’t ask about party choice (or independent status) on voter registration forms, yet the law says no one may be an independent candidate who is “affiliated” with a party. This standard forces election administrators and state courts to look into the personal characteristics of candidates, to measure their intent. No other state has this type of ambiguity.
The independent mayoral candidate in Canton was elected as a Democrat as a county commissioner in Stark County, a position he still holds.
The independent challenger Thomas Bernabei had served as chief of staff for the incumbent William Healy II, who fired Bernabei, stating that Bernabei had done a really good job. I think there is something personal here.
Originally one of the complainants was the Stark County Democratic Party. Both Democratic members of the Stark County election board were also members of Democratic county executive committee. When it was suggested there might be a conflict of interest, the Stark County Democratic Party committee withdrew their complaint, freeing up the two members of the county executive committee to make a fair an objective decision.
When there is a tie vote among the members of a county election board, the Secretary of State breaks the tie.
In Massillon, the independent challenger, is a former 6-term mayor (24 years), who was beaten in the 2011 Democratic primary.
Ohio should use the system in Texas, where party affiliation only lasts through the nominating period of even years, when all voters are absolved of their partisan affiliation. There is no affiliation for any other elections.