BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The write-in votes showed that Bill Jones was the winner of the council race in the tiny Campbell County town. But the question was, Which Bill Jones won, father or son?
"We called the one fellow, and he said, "I wasn't running, and I don't want to accept,' " said Campbell County Clerk Jack Snodgrass. "So we checked with the son, and we found out he was the one who was running."
In many of Northern Kentucky's smaller cities, it's traditional to choose elected officials through write-in votes, county clerks say. That's even true this election year, although many larger cities are boasting a record number of candidates.
"We've never had this many offices on the ballot before," said Patsy Casey of the Kentucky secretary of state's office. "This is the biggest election in Kentucky's history."
But while cities from Crestview to Crescent Springs have more candidates than ever on the Nov. 3 ballot, six Northern Kentucky cities don't have enough people running for the available seats, and five -- California, Mentor, Fairview, Latonia Lakes and Melbourne -- have nobody running at all.
"I don't plan on running," said California resident Frank Smith Jr., who was appointed mayor of his Campbell County town of 130 when the previous mayor moved. "But whoever's in office, (the voters) usually just leave in there."
Candidates in Kentucky's second-, third- and fourth-class cities who missed the filing deadline must file a declaration of intent with their county clerk by Oct. 26, saying that they plan to run as write-ins. However, in the smaller fifth- and sixth-class cities, voters can write in any qualified resident's name for a city office.
While Northern Kentucky's school boards have enough candidates to fill the available slots, there is a shortage statewide, so the Kentucky School Boards Association has started an advertising campaign to encourage people to run.
"Even if you don't file, they still write your name in," said Woodlawn City Commissioner Jerry Maringer. "We always say volunteering for bingo at church and the commissioner's job is a lifetime thing. You never get out of it."
Mayor John Haun, who is unopposed for re-election, and Mr. Maringer are the only names on the Woodlawn ballot for this community of 308. "I think most of the time, the filing deadline just slips up on you," Mr. Maringer said. "We'll probably go door to door with a bulletin listing the names of people who are interested in running." While some small cities blame forgetfulness, many candidates simply don't want to pay the filing fee, Northern Kentucky's county clerks said.
"For the fifth- and sixth-class cities, it's a $20 filing fee," said Kenton County Clerk Bill Aylor. "A lot of these people don't want to pay the fee, so they just take their chances. They have just enough family and friends write them in, so that they get enough votes to win."
Because of the hassle, Kentucky's City and County Clerks Association will lobby the next state legislature to lower the fee to $5, Mr. Snodgrass said.
Another factor is lack of time, officeholders in small cities say. With so many busy, two-income families, many of those who serve are retired, or they are pressured by friends and neighbors into serving.
"Being a mayor, you get a lot of complaints, mostly about stray dogs," Mr. Smith said.
While Mr. Smith says he sees his service as a way of giving back to his town of 35 years, he offered: "If someone wants my job, they can have it. It's more of a hassle than anything."
In Kenton Vale, a city of 52 homes and fewer than 250 people, city commissioners can be found cleaning and plowing streets, cutting grass, and building berms on the main roads, when they're not attending the monthly city meetings at the local floral shop. For all that, they receive $15 a month.
"Generally, if we can't get the husband to run, we'll get the wife," said Kenton Vale Commissioner Kenneth Cain, a 62-year-old retiree.
"It's rare that you get a full ballot," said veteran Kenton Vale Commissioner Ronald Flack, 55. "We're so small that it doesn't take long for word to get around if you're interested in running (as a write-in)."
Write-in votes are a major hassle for elections workers, the clerks said.
"It used to be that we got a lot of Donald Ducks, Plutos and Zorros (written in)," Mr. Snodgrass said. "Theoretically, we had to count all those votes, until a new law (passed in 1994) said that we didn't."
Mr. Aylor still remembers the years-old case of a Fort Mitchell man who wrote his name on every race on the ballot in a presidential election.
"You get those all the time," Mr. Aylor said. "They put in Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. Maybe, sometimes it'll be a protest vote. The only problem this election, there are so many ballots that it's really going to slow things down -- both the voting and the tabulation."
