Ford withdraws from 2nd Ward race; will run as a write-in candidate

It also looks like the race for the 2nd Ward seat will have three candidates after all.

A Middletown City Council member has withdrawn from her bid to retain her current seat in order to preserve her shot at running as a write-in candidate this fall.

Leslie Ford said that she went to the Butler County Board of Elections on Monday afternoon, Aug. 24, to officially withdraw from the 2nd Ward race.

Last week, Betty McGary, county board of elections director, said Ford would have to withdraw from the race before the elections board met today, Aug. 25, to certify petitions for the Nov. 3 general election. If Ford had not withdrawn from the race, she would not have been allowed to run as a write-in candidate in November.

Ford said she will file a declaration of intent to run as a write-in candidate before the Sept. 2 deadline.

“I won’t be waiting until the last minute to file (as a write-in),” Ford said. “I want to make people more aware of the write-in process.”

Unlike a petition, the declaration of intent does not require signatures of registered voters. However, her name will not be on the Nov. 3 ballot as voters will have to physically write in her name at the polls.

Last week, elections board staff informed Ford that she did not have a sufficient number of signatures of registered voters on the petitions she filed on Aug. 18. Of the 77 signatures she filed, 44 were invalid for a number of reasons.

Ford was elected in 2007 to complete the final two years of former 2nd Ward councilman William “Kip” Moore, who resigned in December 2006.

If she files her declaration of intent to run as a write-in candidate, she will face candidates John Soppanish and A.J. Smith in the 2nd Ward race.