State ex rel. Law v. Trumbull Cnty. Bd. of Elections

• Decision Date: 16 September 2019
• Docket Number: No. 2019-1162,2019-1162
• Citation: 2019 Ohio 3724,135 N.E.3d 762,157 Ohio St.3d 280
• Parties: The STATE EX REL. LAW v. TRUMBULL COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

157 Ohio St.3d 280

135 N.E.3d 762

2019 Ohio 3724

The STATE EX REL. LAW

v.TRUMBULL COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS.

No. 2019-1162

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted September 11, 2019

Decided September 16, 2019

Frost Brown Todd, L.L.C., Frank J. Reed Jr., Columbus, and Brodi J. Conover, West Chester, for relator.

Dennis Watkins, Trumbull County Prosecuting Attorney, and William J. Danso, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for respondent.

Per Curiam.

{¶ 1} Relator, Randy Law, asks this court for a writ of mandamus, a writ of prohibition, or both, ordering respondent, the Trumbull County Board of Elections, to recertify his candidacy to the November 2019 ballot as an independent candidate for mayor of Warren. The board opposes Law's request, arguing that it did not abuse its discretion by concluding that Law failed to claim disaffiliation from the Republican Party in good faith. We grant Law a writ of mandamus and deny his request for a writ of prohibition.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

{¶ 2} On May 6, 2019, Law submitted his petition to run as an independent candidate for mayor of Warren. The petition was timely filed and contained an adequate number of signatures. On July 2, the board certified Law's candidacy to the November 2019 ballot.

{¶ 3} On July 17, Daniel B. Letson filed a protest against Law's candidacy, asserting that Law was affiliated with the Republican Party and therefore could not run as an independent candidate. On August 12, the board held a hearing at which it accepted documentary evidence and heard Law's sworn testimony. The evidence established the following relevant facts.

{¶ 4} Law has a long—though not unbroken—history of affiliation with the Republican Party. In 2009, he voted in the Democratic Party primary election and in 2010, he voted in a nonpartisan primary election. In more recent years, however, Law has consistently voted in Republican Party primary elections. The last time he did so was in 2018. He did not vote in any party's primary election in 2019. In 2018, he ran for office as a Republican candidate for state representative. And in 2018, he was elected to be a member of the Trumbull County Republican Party Central Committee.¹

{¶ 5} At some point, "a little more than 30 days" before he filed his petition to run as an independent candidate for mayor, Law attempted to change the Facebook page he had used for his 2018 Republican state-representative campaign into a page for his independent mayoral campaign. He was unable to change the name of the page or to delete it, but he was able to change the political affiliation listed on the page. Law explained that while the page for the defunct 2018 campaign still existed as of the date of the hearing, it stated that Law was an independent. Law also created a new Facebook page for his mayoral campaign, which also states that he is an independent. His personal Facebook page does not state any political affiliation.

{¶ 6} On April 13, 2019, Law sent a letter to the Trumbull County Republican Party and to the board, resigning his position as a member of the Trumbull County Republican Party Central Committee. The body of the letter said, "Please be notified of my resignation as Trumbull County Republican Party Central Committee member from Warren 1-G as of the date of this letter." Both the party and the board received the letter; at the August 12 hearing, Law presented a copy that had been time-stamped by the board.

{¶ 7} On April 17, Law completed the statements of candidacy on his part-petitions, which were circulated for his mayoral campaign in late April and early May and filed on May 6.² When he submitted his petition, the board provided Law with paperwork to file a designation of treasurer for his campaign account. Law testified that the board customarily provides this paperwork to candidates when they file their petitions and asks them to return it within ten days because on the filing deadline, "everybody's busy. You just bring it back in." Law's prior designation-of-treasurer form for his 2018 state-representative campaign, which remained on file with the board, designated Law as a Republican. Within ten days after he filed his mayoral-campaign petition, Law filed the paperwork that the board had provided him to update his treasurer information, this time designating himself as an independent.

{¶ 8} After Law filed his petition, the Warren Tribune Chronicle published an article about Law's candidacy. The article stated, " ‘Running for the mayor's seat was a decision I made after people came to me and asked if I would step up ’ Law said. ‘It was after the deadline to compete in the primary election .’ " (Italics sic.) The article also stated:

Law said he does not believe that party politics are as important on the local level as it is on statewide and federal levels.

* * *

Although his background has been in the Republican Party, Law expects his campaign to be very inclusive, drawing people who are known and unknown from both parties.

"People will be surprised with the level of nonpartisan support we will be drawing from ," Law said. "This will not be an ‘R’ versus ‘D’ campaign ." * * *

Law emphasized he has worked well with members of both parties over the years.

(Italics sic.)

{¶ 9} At the August 12 protest hearing, the board chairman asked Law to "clearly state to the Board what is or was your motivation to disaffiliate from the Republican party to become an Independent." Before Law could answer, Law's counsel interjected, "it's not a matter of why did you do it; it's did you do it." The board chairman reiterated the question, stating, "I just want to clearly understand Mr. Law's motivation for disaffiliating himself from the Republican party and choosing to become an Independent." Law answered, "It's because I wanted to run as an I. Independent for mayor. So I also knew the steps I needed to take. And that was the motivation; I was running as an Independent."

{¶ 10} The board chairman defined the "fundamental question at hand regarding this protest" as "has Mr. Law disaffiliated from the Republican party in good faith." The board concluded, by a three-to-one vote, that Law had not "disaffiliated himself from the Republican party in good faith, and must be removed from the ballot." The board chairman stated:

Based on many, many, many factors, there was not a single factor that presented the preponderance of weight for one way or another. His past party affiliations, previous offices held, most recently, I mean, precinct committee people, state rep in terms of running for that office, state central committee, the timing of everything, and the time line, the petitions, the signers, the circulators, the declaration of treasurer went into account. The Tribune article about the—it was after the deadline, and in order to compete, you know, for the mayor's race, all those went into consideration.

And what also went into consideration was what was not presented in terms of the disaffiliation. Why are you wanting to run as an Independent now? And that was an opportunity to present your position as—and support your position of disaffiliation, and it was not compelling.

Now, none of those things in their—taken on a singular basis was the reason why we came to our decision, but everything in totality. So that is our position of this Board. That is our position of this Board.

{¶ 11} Law filed this action on August 19, seeking a writ of mandamus, a writ of prohibition, or both, ordering the board to recertify his candidacy to the ballot.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Mandamus Standard

{¶ 12} Law is entitled to a writ of mandamus if he establishes by clear and convincing evidence that (1) he has a clear legal right to have his name placed on the ballot, (2) the board has a clear legal duty to place his name on the ballot, and (3) he lacks an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the law. State ex rel. Davis v. Summit Cty. Bd. of Elections , 137 Ohio St.3d 222, 2013-Ohio-4616, 998 N.E.2d 1093, ¶ 12. Because of the proximity of the November election, Law lacks an adequate remedy outside this proceeding. See State ex rel. Finkbeiner v. Lucas Cty. Bd. of Elections , 122 Ohio St.3d 462, 2009-Ohio-3657, 912 N.E.2d 573, ¶ 18.

{¶ 13} With respect to the remaining elements, we look to whether the board has "engaged in fraud, corruption, or abuse of discretion, or acted in clear disregard of applicable legal provisions." Whitman v. Hamilton Cty. Bd. of Elections , 97 Ohio St.3d 216, 2002-Ohio-5923, 778 N.E.2d 32, ¶ 11. Law does not allege fraud or corruption, so the question is whether the board abused its discretion or clearly disregarded applicable law. A board abuses its discretion when it acts in an unreasonable, arbitrary, or unconscionable fashion. State ex rel. McCann v. Delaware Cty. Bd. of Elections , 155 Ohio St.3d 14, 2018-Ohio-3342, 118 N.E.3d 224, ¶ 12.

B. Disaffiliation

{¶ 14} An "independent candidate" is "any candidate who claims not to be affiliated with a political party, and whose name has been certified * * * through the filing of a statement of candidacy and nominating petition, as prescribed in section 3513.257 of the Revised Code." R.C. 3501.01(I). "Implicit in the submission of these documents is the candidate's declaration that he or she is independent; that declaration must be made in good faith ." (Emphasis added.) State ex rel. Morris v. Stark Cty. Bd. of Elections , 143 Ohio St.3d 507, 2015-Ohio-3659, 39 N.E.3d 1232, ¶ 29.

{¶ 15} "Party affiliation in Ohio is purely a matter of self-identification, and that self-identification is subject to change." State ex rel. Stevens v. Fairfield Cty. Bd. of Elections , 152 Ohio St.3d 584, 2018-Ohio-1151, 99 N.E.3d 376, ¶ 20.

"[B]eing ‘registered’ as a Republican or Democrat means nothing more than voting in that party's primary, because the local boards of elections keep records of that information." State ex rel. Coughlin v. Summit Cty. Bd. of Elections , 136 Ohio St.3d 371, 2013-Ohio-3867, 995 N.E.2d 1194, ¶ 28, fn...