School board candidate may face criminal charge

CELINA - One of eleven candidates eying a seat on Celina's school board who ended up making the Nov. 7 general election ballot despite having a page of petition signatures thrown out may face a criminal falsification charge.

Mercer County Board of Elections members at a special meeting this week moved to certify Amanda Bruce to the ballot after tossing out one of her five part-petitions on which she had allegedly falsely signed her name as the circulator, according to board of elections director Deb Sneddon.

Bruce is the subject of a criminal investigation that is now in the hands of county prosecutors who are considering a falsification charge that could range from a misdemeanor to a fifth-degree felony, said county assistant prosecutor Amy Ikerd.

Bruce could not be reached for comment on Wednesday night. On the Facebook page Amanda Bruce for Celina School Board, Bruce acknowledged her petitions "have been certified, despite an error on my part."

Board members also moved to certify Celina school board candidate Tim Homan to the general election after holding a second vote on Monday, but rejected Jefferson Township trustee candidate Chris Weitzel's petition after finding he failed to sign a circulator statement.

Board members initially convened on Aug. 16 to certify candidates and issues for the general election. At that time, board member Toni Slusser relayed she had been notified "that there was someone else who circulated a petition for her (Bruce)," Sneddon said.

Above the circulator statement on the petition reads "whoever commits election falsification is guilty of a felony of the fifth degree."

"They (board members) involved the prosecutor who called for an investigation with the sheriff's department," Sneddon told The Daily Standard. "It turned out that when they went to ask her (Bruce), that she indeed said, 'Yes, I signed there, but I was not the circulator on that piece."

At the advice of the county prosector's office, board members on Monday voted not to accept the 16 signatures on the part-petition in question, Sneddon said. The other 61 signatures gathered across four part-petitions, though, were deemed valid, more than enough to meet the state requirement of 25 signatures from qualified electors of the school district.

Bruce's name will appear on the general election ballot.

In regard to Homan's petition, Sneddon said the board on Aug. 16 found that in the statement of candidacy section of the petition, Homan had written the date of the general election, not the date in which he was declaring his candidacy.

He also "did not have the date of the election in the correct spot," she added.

Sneddon said board members debated the issue.

"But then there was consideration as well that only the signature is required by law," she said.

Board members voted 2 to 1 to accept the petition, with board member Del Kramer, a Republican, and Phil Long, a Democrat, casting votes in favor of the motion, Republican Toni Slusser abstaining and Democrat Craig Klopfleisch voting no, according to Sneddon.

With Slusser abstaining, there was some uncertainty about the fate of Homan's petition, Sneddon said.

"He needed a majority of votes, and he only had two, so the question was … when someone abstains is two a majority or is three a majority?" Sneddon asked.

A second vote took place on Monday after Homan had submitted a "request asking for the board to reconsider," Sneddon said.

"They did reconsider it and they revoted and it was 3 to 1," with Klopfleisch again voting no, Sneddon said.

As such, eleven names will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot for the Celina school board race - Bruce, Homan, Jon M. Clouse, John Contreras, Stacy Evers, Andrea Kuehne, Ashleigh Lantz, Tiffany McKirnan, Jessica Rolfes, Adam Schleucher and Julia Sommer.  

The top three vote-getters will earn seats on the school board.

Celina school board incumbents Bill Sell, Deb Guingrich and Barbara Vorhees, whose terms expire at the end of the year, did not submit petitions to run in the general election.

Also this week, board members rejected Jefferson Township trustee candidate Chris Weitzel's petition after finding he did not sign his name on the signature of circulator line.

"He printed his name in the top line that says, 'I, Chris Weitzel, witnessed,' but he didn't place his signature below it," Sneddon explained.

With Weitzel knocked out of race, that leaves incumbent Nick Laux and Jodie L. Swaney vying for one open trustee seat.