Ohio Supreme Court asked to force vote on elections board challenge

• An Ohio Supreme Court filing seeks to compel a vote on a residency challenge against a Delaware County Board of Elections member.
• The challenge questions whether board member Melanie Leneghan lives in Ohio or South Carolina.
• The filing argues the board has a legal duty to hold the hearing before the upcoming primary election.

An attorney representing a woman challenging whether a Delaware County Board of Elections member lives in Ohio has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to force the remaining three elections board members to vote on the challenge.

The filing with the state’s high court came four days after the county elections board did not hold a hearing on the residency challenge against board member Melanie Leneghan, who is also the female District 19 representative for the Republican State Central Committee.

The elections board did not hold the residency hearing during its March 5 meeting or take any action on the challenge because the board’s two Democrats, Ed Helvey and Peg Watkins, recused themselves over concerns that any action they took could be seen as partisan.

Leneghan also recused herself, leaving only the board’s other Republican member, Steve Cuckler. As a result, the board didn’t have the required three members needed for a quorum.

Delaware County Republican Party Central Committee member Velva Dunn is challenging Leneghan’s right to vote in Ohio and her candidacy for reelection to the central committee in the May primary. In her challenge, Dunn alleges that Leneghan lives in South Carolina.

Leneghan, a former Liberty Township trustee, sold her home near Powell in January 2025. She is registered to vote in Galena, the elections board’s website shows.

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Leneghan told The Dispatch on March 3 that she spends the majority of her time in Ohio, though she travels out of state for her sales job and owns property elsewhere, including in South Carolina, where she visits her daughter in college.

Dunn’s attorney, Curt Hartman, argued in the Supreme Court filing that Helvey and Watkins do not have a direct and personal interest in the challenge and their recusals, “while admirable in terms of seeking to put beyond reproach any perception of bias, is not sufficient to justify their recusal in this instance.”

Unlike when a judge or a prosecutor recuses themselves and appoints a visiting judge or special prosecutor, Hartman argued there is no mechanism or process outlined in Ohio law regarding recusals on boards of election, which are comprised of two Democrats and two Republicans. Hartman alleged that the Ohio Secretary of State does not have legal authority to consider such matters instead of the elections board.

Because there is no other remedy, Hartman argues in the filing that the other three board members have a clear legal duty to hold and conduct the hearing as required by Ohio law.

Hartman is also asking the Supreme Court to force the hearing because Leneghan is seeking reelection to the state central committee in the upcoming May 5 primary election.

In a March 11 response, the elections board’s special counsel, Frank J. Reed Jr., says that the legal concept Hartman is arguing doesn’t apply in these circumstances.

Reed also wrote that Helvey’s and Watkins’s actions were proper under the Ohio Secretary of State’s Ethics Policy for Ohio elections boards. The policy, in part, states: “Members and employees of the boards of elections should avoid actions and associations that create an appearance of impropriety, that undermine public confidence in Ohio elections officials, or that interfere with the performance of duties by Ohio elections officials.”

Now, the case is up to the justices to make a decision. The docket does not indicate when that would happen.

Delaware County and eastern Columbus suburbs reporter Maria DeVito can be reached at mdevito@dispatch.com and @mariadevito13.dispatch.com on Bluesky and @MariaDeVito13 on X.