WARREN — Three people who weren’t certified to the May 6 primary election because of issues with their petitions will be reinstated Tuesday by the Trumbull County Board of Elections.

Director Stephanie Penrose said her staff erred when it recommended to the board that it not certify two Republican candidates for Warren council seats — David Burnham for council at-large and Ashley McBride for 5th Ward — because they didn’t have enough valid signatures. The board followed the staff’s incorrect recommendations Wednesday.

The board staff misread the state statute on the validity of people who could sign nominating petitions for Republican candidates, Penrose said.

The state law permits those to sign petitions and be considered valid for Republicans, for example, if they voted in the party’s last primary or if they didn’t vote in any other party’s primary election in the preceding two calendar years.

The board staff were mistakenly not counting Republican signatures if those people voted Republican last year, but Democratic in the 2023 primary, Penrose said.

“We misread the statute,” she said. “I was trained to go back two elections. It was a misrepresentation on our part.”

The board got a legal opinion Friday from William Danso, an assistant prosecutor, who pointed out the mistake, Penrose said.

The board’s error was initially identified by Niki Frenchko, a former county commissioner who circulated petitions for Burnham. Frenchko wrote in a Thursday letter to the board that she was protesting the Wednesday vote to remove Burnham from the ballot.

“I believe staff mistakenly applied the non-party standards to Republicans,” Frenchko wrote. “For this reason, not only would Mr. Burnham have adequate signatures, all candidates’ petitions should be rechecked and additional training is mandated.”

With the reexamination of the petitions, board staff determined McBride and Burnham had enough valid signatures to qualify for the May 6 Republican primary and will be reinstated when the board meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Penrose said.

“I asked the board to review all candidates who didn’t get certified,” Frenchko said. “It was a terrible fumble, especially by the Republicans on the board. We need to make sure there’s more training for compliance and better attention to detail.”

In one case, Burnham had a signature invalidated for “wrong party” from a member of the party’s executive committee. Frenchko said Republican board members Marleah Campbell and Arno Hill should have known that.

Burnham needed at least 50 valid signatures. He turned in petitions with 58 signatures and the board ruled Wednesday that 42 were valid. More than eight signatures on his petitions were thrown out because of the board’s mistake so when the body meets Tuesday he will be reinstated, Penrose said.

McBride, who previously served as a Warren 5th Ward councilwoman as a Democrat, needed 25 valid signatures. She collected 27 total signatures and 20 were determined to be valid. By correcting the board staff mistakes, McBride will have enough valid signatures to qualify, Penrose said.

While the board has been misreading the statute for years, Penrose said McBride and Burnham were the first two times a potential candidate failed to get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot because of the mistake.

Also, the board on Wednesday didn’t certify the petitions for Brian Kropp who is running for the 1st Ward seat in Newton Falls. He needed 25 valid signatures and 24 were approved.

But Penrose said two people printed their names and the board invalidated them.

Kropp was made aware of the situation, Penrose said, and will provide at least one affidavit — and possibly two — from the people who printed their names at Tuesday’s meeting. Once Kropp does that, he will be reinstated as a candidate, she said.