State ex rel. Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Executive Committee v. Taft

The executive committee mainly argues that Taft’s rejection of its recommendation was an abuse of discretion. We agree and, therefore, issue the requested writ of mandamus.

R.C. 3501.07 permits the appropriate county executive committee to recommend a candidate for a vacancy on the county board of elections. The statute also provides:

“The secretary of state shall appoint such [qualified] elector, unless he has reason to believe that the elector would not be a competent member of such board. In such cases the secretary of state shall so state in writing to the chairman of such county executive…