By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

JACKSONBURG - At the main (and only) intersection in town, a dozen campaign signs tout candidates for Wayne Township trustee and Edgewood City School board.

There's no sign for Jacksonburg council or mayor - because no candidates are on the ballot in Ohio's smallest incorporated village (population 67).

That's because for decades, the mayor and council members have been elected and re-elected as write-ins in this Butler County hamlet.

"It's so much easier to run as a write-in than to go out and get signatures on a petition," says Michael Sword, 49, the AK Steel employee elected mayor in 1979. He has been unopposed since.

In a way, it's fitting that this tiny crossroads community has nobody on the ballot. The town doesn't have a village hall, school, post office or gas station. Not even one stoplight. Incorporated in 1835 along the route from Cincinnati to Greenville, Jacksonburg today boasts one carry-out, one church, one water tower, one four-way stop - and four write-ins for re-election, including the mayor and his mother, Laura Sword, a council member.

Being a write-in, the mayor says, saves money for the village, which has annual revenues of only $32,000. No candidates means the village saves several hundred dollars each election in payments to the Butler County Board of Elections for conducting the vote, says Clerk-Treasurer Eric Cox, also a write-in candidate.

"It's cheaper," says Sword, who also owns The Mayor's Place tavern in nearby Trenton.

Candidates filing as write-ins, however, must pay the same $30 fee assessed to candidates on the ballot by the Butler County Board of Elections, says Bob Mosketti, elections director.

"This is just how it's done in little towns," says 17-year resident Diana Wagner. "Everybody knows each other. If someone leaves council, they'll say: 'We've got an empty seat. We need you to fill it.' "

So village leadership has evolved into a family affair. Cox is the son of council member Kathy Cox. John Wagner is the husband of Diana, who resigned her seat in July. Write-in Judy Sizemore serves on council with Ralph and Elsie Mae Brewer, husband and wife.

"It's a small community, and a lot of people are just not interested - or they're too busy. They don't have the little bit of time that it takes," says Elsie Mae Brewer, the last council candidate to appear on the ballot. That was 10 years ago.

Serving on council isn't a huge obligation here, where most of the budget is spent for trash collection and streetlights. Council also rents Wayne Township hall in town for monthly meetings.

"When one lady complained to council that a goat was eating her flowers, I teased everyone saying, 'This is kind of like being on The Andy Griffith Show,' " Wagner says. "If our meetings went 10 minutes, we'd joke that it's a long meeting."

The four incumbents will be re-elected, assuming they receive a simple majority of votes, Mosketti says.

"If each of us vote for ourselves," the mayor jokes, "then we're in."