YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Board of Election reinstated Struthers Municipal Court Judge Dominic R. Leone III to the May 2 primary after ruling he had enough valid signatures to qualify.

The board’s 4-0 decision Wednesday came eight days after it unanimously ruled to remove Leone, a Democrat seeking a second six-year term, from the ballot, saying he had only 49 valid signatures when he needed 50 to be eligible.

After a three-hour hearing in which the board reviewed affidavits and took testimony from those who signed Leone’s nominating petitions, it was determined he had 56 valid signatures. He turned in nominating petitions with 75 signatures.

The initial decision by the board to remove Leone from the ballot largely was because it dismissed several printed signatures on his nominating petitions saying a cursive signature is required.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Leone danced, flexed his muscle and kissed his arm as he left the meeting room.

Lou DeFabio, his attorney, said, “The board reached the right decision.”

James A. Melone of Poland, who is running as a Democrat for the court seat and filed an objection to Leone’s candidacy, said he respected the board’s decision.

As for an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, Melone said, “I’m going to speak to my counsel (John B. Juhasz) and decide whether or not we wish to appeal the decision.”

DeFabio said if an appeal is filed, “We stand on firm ground.”

The board planned not to certify Leone’s candidacy at a Feb. 7 meeting as board employees determined he was short on the number of signatures needed to qualify. Board Director Tom McCabe said Leone had 45 signatures though “46” was written on the petitions. McCabe said at Wednesday’s hearing that on a third review of Leone’s petitions, board employees found another printed signature that brought the number down to 45.

At that Feb. 7 meeting, DeFabio provided affidavits from five people who said they signed Leone’s petition by printing their names.

That gave Leone 50 valid signatures, but Melone appealed the decision.

Before the hearing, the board met Feb. 21 and determined one of the affidavits came from a person who gave the wrong address, reducing Leone’s signature number to 49 and removed him from the ballot.

The board members on Wednesday changed its decision on that person, who testified, after the address issue was cleared up. The board accepted the signature of the person who would have given Leone 46 signatures rather than 45 and accepted affidavits from others to give him a total of 56 valid signatures.

Raymond Delost, a retired attorney who fills in for Leone on the bench when the judge is absent, said he got signatures on most of the affidavits at a bocce tournament in Struthers.

Juhasz objected to the board revisiting its decision, questioning how many chances should Leone receive.

He also said that Leone didn’t comply with state law when he submitted nominating petitions and then learned of problems and filed a second set of petitions without first formally withdrawing his candidacy.

DeFabio said Leone withdrew as a candidate on Jan. 7 and then filed a second set of petitions.

Board Chairman David Betras said the board “made an error in initially disqualifying” Leone and that the case “was a very, very difficult decision for me.”

Betras said, “If the court is going to decide, hey, what we did was wrong then we’ll take it.”

Vice Chairwoman Sandra Barger said the board heard testimony Wednesday of enough valid signatures to return Leone to the ballot.

Board member Bob Aurandt said, “What we heard (Wednesday) has taken a very convoluted process that I think we made for ourselves.”

Struthers Municipal Court’s jurisdiction includes Struthers, Lowellville, New Middletown, Springfield Township and Poland Village and Township.

Jennifer Ciccone of Poland was certified as a Republican candidate for the judicial seat.

dskolnick@vindy.com