“We have gone through and evaluated them,” Elections Director Jeff Rezabek said. “At this time they appear to be valid. We ask the board … to approve and certify them to the ballot for November.”
Monday’s vote by the elections board allows White to run against Bob Scott for the District 2 seat from which five-term member Joe Wanamaker resigned earlier this year, citing health reasons.
That seat expires at the end of 2023 and Kettering’s charter mandates it remain vacant until after the November election.
Meanwhile, former state Sen. Peggy Lehner will not face opposition to succeed longtime Kettering Mayor Don Patterson, who is term limited.
None of the three other candidates who pulled petitions will be on the ballot and there are no write-in candidates, Rezabek told the Dayton Daily News.
“It sort of creates a new challenge because it’s kind of hard to go out and campaign actively when it doesn’t matter” Lehner said. “I would prefer to have someone I was running against so there could be a healthy exchange of ideas.”
Fairmont High School teacher Kyle Boze had been certified to run, but in July announced he was dropping out due to a city charter violation involving his petition filing. Two others who pulled petitions for the mayor’s race were Michael L. Barnett and J’Anthonty Williams, elections records show.
Lehner’s petition was the only one certified, Rezabek said.
The petition for Lehner, 71, was not among those certified by the board of elections Monday, as it had been approved in July.
But one for another Kettering candidate — at-large city council seat seeker Gregory Wiesemann — was ruled invalid Monday, leaving three candidates for two seats. The board rejected it after his filing was 11 short of the number of qualified signatures needed, Rezabek said.
A Kettering at-large council candidate needs at least 200 valid signatures to be on the ballot, according to the city charter.
Rezabek said Wiesemann could appeal to the board to review the issue. Attempts to reach Wiesemann on Monday were unsuccessful.
In Moraine, Allen — who was elected in 2013 and 2017 — is among two incumbents seeking two at-large council seats, records show.
In Riverside, meanwhile, Fry is one of four city council candidates for as many seats. She won election in 2017, according to documents.
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