Stark Board of Elections rules candidate missed signature mark to run for Ohio House seat

Grace Springer, Canton Repository
Updated ·2 min read

CANTON ‒ Mark Cozy, Canal Fulton's council president, fell just short of getting the valid signatures required on his nominating petition to run for the Ohio House 50th District seat.

Ohio law requires 410 signatures to get on the general election ballot as an independent candidate; and the Stark County Board of Elections ruled Wednesday that Cozy had 408 valid signatures.

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Cozy collected 514, but the board found problems with 106 of the signatures, 58 of which were determined to be not genuine.

Regine Johnson, deputy director at the Stark County Board of Elections, said many of those were printed names that did not match the signature the elections board has on file.

Director Jeff Matthews said 58 not genuine signatures is "more than I've ever seen."

Johnson said Cozy has an opportunity to correct invalid signatures and get on the ballot. He has until June 14 to validate additional signatures, at which time the elections board can decide if it will vote to certify his petition.

Cozy said he is unsure at this point if he will revise his petition to get back on the ballot.

"When I started the petition, there was discussions about whether or not there would actually be a democratic challenger. I didn't want it to be just one person running unopposed," he said. "There's two individuals running and being a third candidate, I don't know if it makes sense for me to do that or not."

Cozy was the only one to submit a petition to run as an independent in the Ohio House 50th District race. Other candidates in the race are Democrat Doremus C. Redvine and Republican Matthew Kishman.

Despite not knowing if he will continue the campaign, Cozy said it was still a good experience.

"I knocked on over 200 doors, I spoke to over 1,000 people, and I have no regrets at all," he said.

The 50th District seat, which forms a U-shape in Stark County, includes Canal Fulton, East Canton, Massillon and Minerva.

The general election is Nov. 5.

Reach Grace at 330-580-8364 or gspringer@gannett.com. Follow her on X @GraceSpringer16.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Mark Cozy's petition for Ohio House rejected by elections board