News
Nelsonville council asks the state Supreme Court to remove candidates from the November ballot
By: David Forster
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The city of Nelsonville is asking the state Supreme Court to order that some people running for office in the November election be removed from the ballot.
The legal filing follows the City Council’s decision on Monday to repeal a citizen initiative that called for the city to change its form of government.
Under that initiative, known as Issue 23, several people are running for City Council, mayor and other positions in the new government that was set to take over on Jan. 1, 2026.
The Athens County Board of Elections discussed the council’s repeal of Issue 23 at a meeting Wednesday and decided to continue moving forward with the election under the initiative.
The City Council is now asking the Supreme Court to tell the elections board to remove from the ballot anyone running for office under Issue 23.
The council’s decision to repeal Issue 23, which passed last November with about 70 percent of the vote, is expected to be challenged in court.
Nelsonville resident Greg Smith, who was part of a lawsuit filed last year to force the council to put the initiative on the ballot, said earlier this week he plans to sue the council over its decision.
The elections board expected the repeal would end up in court and decided rather than make a decision on its own to essentially stop the election under Issue 23, it would stay the course and let the courts settle the matter.
The board said it would continue to accept candidates who want to run for office under Issue 23, and said it would also accept candidates who want to run under the city’s charter.
The charter, adopted three decades ago, established the city’s current form of government. Under Issue 23, the charter would be abolished at the end of this year and the city would revert to the form of government it had before the charter. The city was then governed by a council and an independent, elected mayor.
Even if the council’s repeal of Issue 23 survives any legal challenge, an election for new City Council members will still be needed. The terms of all the current council members end in November.
At this point it is too late for anyone running for council under Issue 23 or the charter to get their name on the ballot, but anyone wishing to run as a write-in candidate has until Aug. 25 to submit the required paperwork.
In its legal filing, the City Council is asking the court to move quickly on its request given that the election is less than three months away.
Presumably, candidates the council is trying to remove from the ballot would have legal standing to challenge the council’s request, but WOUB was unable to confirm this before publication. It’s also unclear who else may have standing to file a challenge with the Supreme Court.
Jonathan Flowers, a council member who is running for mayor under Issue 23, said he has no plans at this point to file a challenge. Flowers was the only council member who voted against repealing the initiative.
“It’s not because I wanted to be mayor. It’s because I wanted to give the people their choice and they’ve chosen,” he said in reference to the strong support for Issue 23 when it passed.
Dan Sherman, a former council member who is running for council president under Issue 23, said he also has no plans to file a challenge.
WOUB was unable to reach other candidates for office before this story was published.