Ohio Rep. Terrence Upchurch Won't Appear on March Democratic Primary Ballot After Petition Issue

Terrence Upchurch, left Credit: Ohio House of Representatives

The ballot for Democratic voters in Ohio House District 20, which includes a large swath of Cleveland, won’t have any candidates listed in the March primary election after Rep. Terrence Upchurch failed to submit the requisite number of petition signatures in time to qualify, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections told Scene. The deadline was 4 p.m. on Dec. 20.

There will be a write-in field on the ballot after Upchurch paid a filing fee and, assuming he gets at least 50 scribbled votes (the same number of valid petition signatures required to appear on the ballot in the first place), and no other write-in candidate gets more, he’ll move on from the administrative snafu and into the November general election, presumably against Donna Walker-Brown, the unopposed Republican candidate.

“The past couple of months I’ve been dealing with a family matter, a sick relative, but I’ve fully intended on running for re-election,” Upchurch told Scene. “The reality was, as we started checking the folks who signed my petition, with the confusion of redistricting, they thought they were in the 20th but they weren’t. And rather than run into the possible issue of the BOE throwing them out, we opted for a write-in. Others have had to do it before, but I fully believe the 20th district will re-elect me and send me back to the statehouse to continue to work on their behalf.”

A 12th hour, last day push to collect enough valid signatures from residents in his district fell short by six before the deadline. If he had not withdrawn the petition and the BOE found he didn’t meet the 50 signature threshhold, he would have been ineligible to run at all. So the write-in process was the best option.

Upchurch added that it “really points to a bigger issue” with redistricting.

“Half of one street is one, half is another. There are senior members of my district that are faithful and loyal voters and really enjoy the process of the exercise of democracy and they’re frustrated because they’ve had one state rep for four years, then another, then in two years another. It creates a disconnect between residents and they’re elected representatives.”

The write-in process is “an extra step,” Upchurch said. “But there are residents in my district who have to take an extra step every day,”

Since Upchurch is a valid write-in candidate, the BOE told Scene as long as the office can discern that a voter intended to opt for him — including simply writing Terrence, for instance — the vote will be counted.

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