BOE refers signatures to prosecutor

DOWNTOWN TOLEDO - The Lucas County Board of Elections voted to refer the county's Republican Party's questionable finance signatures to the county prosecutor's office.

Last Friday, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner ordered the county board to look into accusations of forgery by the Lucas County Republican Party.

"Our job is to run fair and accurate elections," said Patrick Kriner, Lucas Co BOE Chairman. "Our job is also to supervise and maintain fair and accurate records on campaign finance reports, so we take our jobs very seriously. This is something we approach with the responsibility given to us and we're going to pursue it."

The investigation comes from work done by The Toledo Free Press, a FOX Toledo News our media partner. The Free Press had three handwriting experts examine signatures on some of the party's campaign fiance reports.

"There appears to be different signatures," said BOE Director Linda Howe Monday evening during a special session. "They don't all look the same."

The documents were allegedly signed by the the county GOP's treasurer, James Dumas.

"The paperwork was taken over to be filled out with information and brought back signed," Howe added. "The treasurer was not there at the time."

After comparing the signatures to the treasurer's voter registration card, the handwriting experts found the signatures on the finance reports may have been signed by others.

Many board members agreed prosecutors have more resources to investigate what could be a fifth degree felony.

"I don't feel we're equipped to investigate something like that," Howe said, who admitted that people can have different signatures on different days. But since neither she nor anyone on the board is a handwriting expert, prosecutors will do their work, looking into something that caught many off guard

A fifth-degree felony conviction [of election falsification] may result in a prison sentence of six to 12 months and/or a fine of up to $2,500.

"It does happen from time to time," said Garrick Johnson, elections board member. "Unfortunately we will look at signatures, and they don't look right. When we have somebody that makes the types of serious allegations that were alleged in the Free Press, we have a duty to go ahead and have these investigated." .

County GOP chairman Jon Stainbrook said the charges have no merit.

"This whole thing is frivolous and ridiculous," said Anthony J. DeGidio, Stainbrook's legal counsel. "It's looks like everyone doesn't have all the facts."

(FOX Toledo's Shaun Hegarty contributed to this report)