SIDNEY — Six petitions were rejected for the November General Election during the Shelby County Board of Elections meeting Monday morning.

Board members — Chair Chris Gibbs, Merrill Asher, Chuck Craynon and Jon Baker — rejected the petitions because the person running for office failed to comply with either a Shelby County policy or an Ohio Revised Code policy resulting in a “fatal” error of procedure.

The petition of Betty Ike was rejected because she failed to complete the nominating petition portion of the document correctly and it violated a Shelby County policy. The required number signatures were received but the signers didn’t know what elected office they were signing for.

Three Lockington Village Council petitions were also rejected. The petitions of Ashley Branson, Estel Johnson and Amber Lowe didn’t complete the circulatory statement, which tells who circulated the petition.

There are four seats up for election for Lockington Council. Lowe and Johnson are currently council members. Incumbents Brent Taylor and Tabitha Taylor didn’t fill for re-election.

Incumbent Botkins Councilman Steven Heuker had his petition rejected because the date he signed the statement of candidacy was after some of the dates when voters signed the petition.

Heuker needed 10 signatures to be placed on the ballot. He had seven valid signatures. The 11th signature of a person on the form matched the date Heuker signed his statement of candidacy.

A petition cannot be circulated until the candidate declares what office they are running for with a signature and date.

A petition for Sidney City Schools Board of Education filed by Kathryn Koesters was also rejected. She was required to have 75 registered voters sign her petition in order to be placed on the ballot. She turned in five petitions with a total of 80 signatures.

“She completed her petition correctly,” said Gibbs. “the signatures were all OK. The circulatory statement was OK.” The first four petitions were filed out correctly. On the fifth petition the name of who witnessed the signatures was different than the person who signed the circulatory statement.

The final portion of the petition contained 13 signatures. Koesters had written in that she witnessed the signatures, but another person actually signed the statement.

“Without the last part, there’s not enough signatures,” said Gibbs.

The board voted to reject the fifth part of the petition.

“That’s why we recommend getting 150 signatures if you need 75,” said Gibbs.

Two other petitions were also reviewed because information was missing on the form.

Bradley Rethman, who is running for Fort Loramie Board of Education, failed to fill out the portion that states the petition was for the general election and the date of the election.

Director Dawn Billing said the people signing the petition knew what seat Rethman was filing for.

“We have said in the past that everything in the top portion (of the petition) can be considered a fatal error (if it’s missing),” said Asher.

“I personally don’t see this as a fatal error,” said Baker.

The board voted 3-1 to approve the petition with Asher voting no.

A petition filed by Christine Helman, who is seeking a seat on the Hardin-Houston Board of Education, was also reviewed.

“The candidate didn’t pick up the petition at the board office,” said Billing. “She downloaded in from the (secretary of state’s) website.”

Helman needed 25 valid signatures on her petition and the board recommended she get 50 petitions. The petition she printed out only had spaces for 20 petitions on it.

“She used the back of one piece of paper (for signatures) and made a spread sheet for the other petition,” said Billing.

“The first petition has 20 names and she reports 26 signatures,” said Gibbs. “She created her own spreadsheet and it went form 21 to 26 and it was attached to the petition.

“The next petition, on the back of it, had signatures on the back of the paper. She reports 28 signatures but she miscounted and missed the 21st signature so there were only 27 signatures,” said Gibbs.

“She completed everything that was required of her but she just did it in a unique way,” said Billing.

The board approved the petition by a 4-0 vote.

Gibbs pointed out that a training meeting was held for trustees and the general public who were seeking election. The meeting was held to inform them on how to fill out their petitions.

“Everybody who did the training showed up on the first sheet (no problems with petitions),” said Gibbs. “If they didn’t get training, they showed up on the second sheet (minor problems) or the third sheet (fatal errors).”