Summary
The Ohio Supreme Court granted a writ of prohibition preventing the Mahoning County Board of Elections from placing David P. Aey on the Democratic primary ballot for Mahoning County Sheriff. The court held that the board abused its discretion and clearly disregarded R.C. 311.01(B)(9) by treating Aey’s supervisory experience as equivalent to the required two years of supervisory experience earned while serving as a peace officer at the rank of corporal or above. The court also rejected the board’s procedural objections to the action.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the relator's affidavit and petition satisfied the procedural requirements for an original prohibition action.
- Whether a prohibition action was properly brought against the board of elections without naming individual board members or using the phrase 'state on the relation of.'
- Whether the board of elections exercised quasi-judicial authority and whether prohibition was available before the election.
- Whether R.C. 311.01(B)(9)(a) requires two years of supervisory experience earned while serving as a peace officer at the rank of corporal or above.
- Whether the board of elections abused its discretion or clearly disregarded R.C. 311.01(B)(9) by treating Aey's task-force duties as equivalent to the required rank-based experience.
Holdings
- An affidavit stating that the relator reviewed and affirmed the accuracy of the petition's factual allegations based on personal knowledge satisfied S.Ct.Prac.R. X(4)(B) where the verified petition specified the details of the claim and set forth admissible facts.
- Filing a petition rather than a complaint did not require dismissal of the prohibition action because the defect was technical and did not prejudice the board's ability to defend.
- Ohio's rules did not require a prohibition action to be filed in the name of the state on the relation of the person applying.
- Individual members of a board of elections need not be named as respondents in a prohibition action seeking to prevent placement of a candidate or issue on the ballot; the board itself is the proper respondent.
- The petition stated a cognizable prohibition claim because it alleged that the board denied Wellington's protest after conducting a hearing that included testimony, thereby exercising quasi-judicial authority.
- The writ of prohibition was available because the board had exercised quasi-judicial authority and the impending primary left Wellington without an adequate ordinary legal remedy. The board abused its discretion and clearly disregarded R.C. 311.01(B)(9) by treating Aey's task-force supervision as sufficient despite Aey's never having served as a peace officer at the rank of corporal or above.
- Deference to the board's resolution of conflicting evidence was unnecessary because there was no material conflict: the uncontroverted evidence showed that Aey never held a rank above deputy sheriff, received no formal promotion, and could not have been promoted by the major who purportedly assigned him the duties.
Key quotations
“in order to be eligible to be a candidate for sheriff, the person must, within the five-year period, have two years of supervisory experience and that supervisory experience must have been earned when the person served as a peace officer at the rank of corporal or above.” (117 Ohio St. 3d at 150-151)
“Accordingly, we grant a writ of prohibition to prevent the board of elections from placing the name of David P. Aey on the ballot as a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for Mahoning County Sheriff at the March 4, 2008 primary election.” (117 Ohio St. 3d at 153)
Factual background
David P. Aey had been employed by the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department since 1993 and never held a rank higher than deputy sheriff. After the corporal rank was abolished, Aey was placed in charge of a United States Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force and supervised other deputies, but he never received a formal promotion to corporal or another higher rank. The Mahoning County Board of Elections nevertheless found his task-force duties equivalent to corporal-level supervisory experience and denied Wellington's protest of Aey's candidacy.
Procedural history
Aey filed a declaration of candidacy and petition for the March 4, 2008 Democratic primary. Wellington protested the candidacy before the Mahoning County Board of Elections, arguing that Aey lacked the statutory qualifications for sheriff. After a hearing, the board denied the protest and determined that Aey's task-force experience was equivalent to the required corporal-level supervisory experience. Wellington then filed this expedited prohibition action, and the Supreme Court of Ohio granted the writ.