Willis Gordon allowed on May primary ballot as Canton mayoral candidate

Canton mayoral hopeful Willis Gordon will appear on the May 2 ballot after all.

The Stark County Board of Elections on Monday certified Gordon’s candidacy petition after initially declaring him ineligible last month, administrative assistant Susan Verble said.

Gordon, who serves as veterans affairs chairman for the Ohio NAACP, is one of five Democratic candidates running for Canton mayor. The others are paralegal Kimberly D. Bell; Canton City Council President William V. Sherer II; Canton Councilman At-Large Bill Smuckler; and Thomas West, a former state representative and Ward 2 councilman. Roy Scott DePew is the only Republican running for the post.

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The Board of Elections previously ruled Gordon ineligible after staff determined only 42 of the 82 signatures on his petition were valid, leaving him eight short of the 50 required signatures. Gordon asked the board to reconsider its decision during a Board of Elections meeting in February and submitted nine signed and notarized affidavits from individuals stating they signed his candidacy petition.

The board determined seven of the nine submitted affidavits proved the signatures to be valid, but that two signatures did not match names in the Board of Election's voter registration database. Gordon told the board the two individuals go by nicknames, which they signed as their first names on his candidacy petition. The board gave him until March 6 to submit curated affidavits or bring witnesses to show the signatures are valid.

Verble said Gordon filed one additional affidavit, which was approved by the board and gave him the required number of signatures to run for mayor.

Reach Paige at 330-580-8577, pmbennett@gannett.com or on Twitter @paigembenn.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark Board of Elections certifies Willis Gordon for May primary