NELSONVILLE, Ohio — The Athens County Board of Elections determined ballot procedures for Nelsonville City Council seats amid the city’s transition to a new form of government.
The transition follows residents’ vote to abolish the city charter and establish a statutory government with a mayor. Most current council terms under the charter will lapse before the end of the year, leaving a month-long gap before anyone elected to a full term as a statutory council member in the November election could take their seat. This has created problems for the city and the local BOE.
However, BOE Deputy Director Tony Brooks told the Independent that the board received guidance from its legal counsel and the Ohio Secretary of State at its June 25 meeting.
In an email sent Thursday, June 26, Brooks told Nelsonville city officials that any qualified elector who wants to run for the one-month council seat under the city charter in December must file a form 3-O, a nominating petition and statement of candidacy for a non-partisan office. The deadline to file is 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 6.
Several candidates are running for seats on the statutory council.
Dan Sherman ran unopposed in the May 6 primary for the council president seat. Jessica Hollenbaugh also filed for an at-large council seat before the primary.
Brooks told the Independent that candidates who have filed as independents for an at-large council seat include:
- Barbara Bishop
- Wesley Henderson
- McCray Powell
- Current council member Nic Joseph-Saul
- Current council member Cameron Peck
Anyone who still wants to file to run for a seat in the new statutory government must file a declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate by 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25.
State law prevents a single candidate from running for both a statutory seat and a charter seat.
“The candidate is going to have to decide what seats they want to run for,” Brooks told the Independent. “I would assume that most people are going to want to run for more than one month. Most people would not want to go through the filing fees and all of the filing paperwork just to run for one month.”
The election process is further complicated by the fact that the city is in the midst of creating wards for its statutory government.
Brooks said the board accepted a petition from Glenn Allan Smith who declared he was running for the 3rd Ward council seat, despite the fact that no wards exist under the current city charter.
“The board is going to have to make a decision on what they’re going to do with that petition, on whether they’re going to certify it,” Brooks said. “They can go either of two ways — and this is the kind of crazy part — they can either certify it as a potential [candidate] for a Nelsonville ward 3 seat, or they can decide not to certify it as a ward 3 seat and certify it as an at-large candidate.”
The secretary of state and legal counsel recommended the board of elections check and process the petition by confirming the number of signatures from residents who live in precinct 3 and the number of signatures outside of precinct 3. Brooks said the BOE is using this method because there are not established wards in the city, but they determined it is possible for precinct 3 to act as a stand-in for the third ward.
The BOE will certify the petition for the third ward candidate if most of the signatures were collected from precinct 3.
The Ohio League of Women Voters and the Athens County League of Women Voters have been hosting town halls over the last several months where community members have learned about the redistricting process and have even drafted a version of a ward map for Nelsonville.
The current Nelsonville city charter contains no language allowing the council to establish wards, so a ward map cannot be established until after the statutory government is formed in January 2026. For now, the council is recommending that anyone interested in running for Nelsonville City Council run for an at-large seat.
The BOE will meet again to certify petitions for candidacy on Tuesday, July 15 at 3:30 p.m.
