Frustrations boil over as Nelsonville’s City Council moves to stop the certification of election results
By: Haley Richardson
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Nelsonville City Council’s decision to fight the certification of election results was met with anger, confusion and exhaustion from the public.
This will be the latest in a string of legal challenges involving Issue 23, a citizen ballot initiative voters passed last November to change the city’s form of government.
The council’s position is there are no offices for these candidates to fill anyway because it repealed Issue 23 in August, meaning the city will not be transitioning to a new government on Jan. 1.
The council tried before the election to get the Issue 23 candidates removed from the ballot.
The Ohio Supreme Court denied the city’s request but did not rule on the validity of the repeal itself, meaning the repeal is still in effect.
Because of the uncertainty, the Athens County Board of Elections allowed candidates to run under both Issue 23 and the Nelsonville charter, which established the city’s current form of government.
Andrea Thompson Hashman is one of the candidates elected Tuesday under Issue 23. She is suing Nelsonville to revoke the repeal of Issue 23, but the court has yet to issue its ruling.
The city has been involved in litigation concerning Issue 23 since the initiative was introduced in early 2024. The council fought a monthslong legal battle to keep it off the ballot. After voters overwhelmingly passed it last November, the city tried to repeal Issue 23 through another initiative in May of this year, but citizens voted against it.
Members of the public expressed disbelief and frustration at the cost of another lawsuit at Wednesday night’s special council meeting.
Nelsonville resident Stuart Brooks said the city needs to accept its losses.
“You’ve gotten beaten numerous times here, and you got beat at the polls yesterday. I don’t see where you’re going with this other than spending our hard-earned money again,” Brooks said.
Brooks’ sentiment was shared by several others, including John Meeks, who expressed exasperation about the new lawsuit.
“You claim to care about Nelsonville, but yet here we are again. Obviously, you do not care about Nelsonville, or we would not be here,” Meeks said.
Thompson Hashman also spoke up, asking the council to revoke its repeal of Issue 23.
“Filing lawsuits against the will of the people is not respecting the government,” she said.
“I want to know why you feel you have to continue to try to change what the people want,” she said.
McDonald also expressed concern over the city’s future if the city continued to pursue legal action to stop the certification of the election results.
“I fear we’re going to have an uproar in this town if you don’t stop,” McDonald said.
Nelsonville Law Director Jonathan Robe doubted the city’s ability to win a suit preventing certification, given the city’s history with past lawsuits.
“My best guess is even if it were 50-50, the courts would rule against Nelsonville,” Robe said. “Nelsonville has lost cases in the courts that other cities would have won.”
Before directing Robe to file legal action against the secretary of state and the county elections board, City Council President Greg Clement urged the public to work with the council in the coming months.
“This is ugly business that we’re in right now, there’s no question,” he said, “so I just ask moving forward we try to respect each other in trying to resolve all these issues.”