Winemiller, 3 others investigated

LORAIN — Four people, including former Safety Service Director Andy Winemiller, are being investigated because of problems with petitions they submitted to get two referendum issues on the November ballot.

Lorain Auditor Ron Mantini said the petitions circulated by Winemiller, Annette Winemiller, Dovie Stellmacher and Barbara Evans all contained instances where people had signed two signatures.

The petitions were circulated to give voters a say on the city’s plans to cut the income tax credit and increase the license plate fees in the city from $5 to $20.

Mantini said each person who circulates a petition must affirm they witnessed each signature. If the same person signed twice, that means either the person wasn’t paying attention or knew that the signer had signed twice, Mantini said.

In either case, it could be a felony, he said.

“I’m not trying to discourage referendums, but people need to understand there are rules and regulations and they need to be followed or there’s consequences,” he said.

Mantini said he asked the Lorain County Board of Elections to check the signatures and they agreed with him.

“If you look at it,  you can tell the same person signed twice,” he said.

Deputy Elections Board Director Marilyn Jacobcik said the investigation will be forwarded to county Prosecutor Dennis Will for review. Will said he has not yet received the file.

Even with the petitions that were thrown out because of the problems, Jacobcik said there were enough valid signatures to place the issues on the November ballot.

Contact Brad Dicken at (440) 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

 

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