Greene judge vacates certification of GOP committee write-ins
Candidates did not receive enough votes
A Greene County judge vacated the certification of 33 write-in candidates for Greene County Republican Party committee seats in the May primary after determining they did not receive enough votes to qualify.
Court of Common Pleas Judge Christopher Simms handed down the July 15 ruling after the county GOP filed a petition in June seeking to revoke the election office’s certification of the candidates.
Party officials Clint Blaney and Keith McClure argued state election law required successful candidates to receive at least 10 votes — the number of signatures required for a nominating petition to get on the ballot.
Attorneys representing the county GOP and Greene County spoke at a hearing last week, as did write-in candidate Larry Yost of Dunkard Township, who argued that he should be seated on the basis of receiving votes from residents of his precinct.
While the county GOP and Greene County both argued the candidates should not be certified, they both cited different case law.
In his ruling, Simms agreed with the interpretation put forward by the GOP, in which a section stipulating that “candidates for other party offices, who receive a plurality of the votes of the party electors at a primary” will be certified as party officers applies only to candidates on the ballot.
That interpretation was based on a 2018 decision in Philadelphia County where the court ruled Democratic Party write-in candidates were governed by a separate part of the election code that set the minimum-vote threshold.
In his ruling, Simms said applying those two sections separately to candidates on the ballot and write-ins “properly harmonized” them with another part of the election code stating party committee members would be elected in the spring primary.
Simms said the county’s argument that the 10-vote minimum did not apply to the primary votes because it was the deciding election for party committee races “finds no support in the statutory language.”
As a result, Simms said, the 33 members “failed to satisfy the requirements … necessary for certification as members of the Greene County Republican Committee.”
“Nothing herein shall preclude Mr. Yost, or any other affected individual, from seeking appointment to the Greene County Republican Committe械 in accordance with the Committee’s established rules and procedures,” Simms said in the ruling.