By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Current county commissioner and state representative-hopeful Steve Reinhard came out a winner when he was challenged over a right to vote by local resident Stephanie Surina.
The Crawford County Board of Elections held a meeting Thursday morning to consider a challenge of right to vote or correction of registration list filed by Surina.
“I’m of the persuasion that it’s important for the public to be involved and kept abreast of what the government is doing,” Surina said at the beginning of the hearing. “If an elected official moves out of the area, the public – the voters – deserve to know.”
Surina contested that Reinhard no longer retained residency in Crawford County when he married his now-wife Kerrie, who lives in Delaware County. She argued that Reinhard listed his voting address as his farm – also a place of business – despite maintaining a residence with his wife and her two children in Radnor in Delaware County.
“I’m not the only person in the 87th District who is concerned about it,” Surina said.
She considered challenging Reinhard a year ago when she found out about the issue, but held off due to rumors that Reinhard would not be running again for county commissioner. When Surina found out that Reinhard would be running for state representative for the 87th District, however, she decided to challenge his residency.
“I’m not contesting Steve’ residency because I’m wanting another candidate in office,” Surina told the board. “What matters to me is who is running for office because they want to better the district they live in versus who is running for office because their business is located here. Not their home – their business, their place of employment,” she stressed.
The challenge was familiar territory for the board, Surina believed. She noted that in 2010 the board ruled former Bucyrus mayor Dan Ross had moved outside of the city limits while retaining his position with the city. Surina also cited a similar case in Seneca County where a woman, who grew up in Fostoria and operated a title business there, ran for the law director position in the town despite living in Huron County. Secretary of State Jon Husted ruled against the woman.
According to the county auditor’s records, Reinhard owns land with his brother on the southern end of Crawford County. The family’s farming business, Reinhard Farms, LLC, resides at 2030 Ohio 4, the same address that Reinhard lists as his voting residence.
Surina pointed out that Delaware County records show that Reinhard’s wife, Kerrie, lived at a home in the Buckeye Valley School District since 1998. The home was listed under Kerrie’s name after she divorced her first husband and the title never changed when she married Reinhard in 2012, not long before he was sworn in as a Crawford County commissioner.
In 2014, the couple purchased a home in the Buckeye Valley School District, where Kerrie’s two daughters went to school.
“From that alone we can surmise that his residency moved from Crawford County to Delaware County,” Surina argued. “It’s blatantly obvious to me that Steve doesn’t reside in Crawford County.”
Surina contended Reinhard only returned to Crawford County for farm and business duties, temporary purposes in Surina’s eyes.
Russ Long, serving as Reinhard’s counsel for the hearing, pointed out that Reinhard was a sitting commissioner and asked Surina, who is a county employee, if she ever stopped by his office to ask him directly about his residency. When Surina responded no, Long then asked why she did not contest the issue when she considered it a year ago. She said that she did not get any backing from anyone else and believed people were afraid to step forward.
“We’re here today on a rumor?” Long asked Surina when she said she heard a rumor that Reinhard had moved to Delaware County.
“I wouldn’t call county records a rumor,” Surina countered.
“How do you know that Steve physically moved there?” Long said. “Do you have any proof that Steve moved to another house?”
Surina said she was basing everything on a county record. She believed that he intended to move there after marrying Kerrie and buying a house in the Buckeye Valley School District.
The board stated that the Ross situation was a vastly different case to Reinhard’s current one, mostly because Ross never had a residence to return to within the city limits. They then questioned Surina on hypothetical situations, such as if the Reinhards were snowbirds and spent half the year in Florida and the other half in Bucyrus. Board member Maggie Barth said it could be a similar situation for when the children are in school.
“To me, they have the intention to return to Delaware. To me, Delaware is the fixed place of abode,” Surina said.
Board member Jo Swain believed Surina was making a lot of assumptions with no concrete evidence to show that Reinhard moved to Delaware.
“Sometimes a person’s decision can’t match up with all the rules (in the Ohio Revised Code),” Long said. “You can have a habitation with the intent to return, but that habitation might be different than where your family lives. As long as you meet one of them, even though it may be against the others, as long as it’s within one of those rules that person’s residency is established by where they want to be.”
Reinhard said he has been residing at the residence at 2030 Ohio 4 for 17 years. Long provided mail addressed to that location from banks and insurance businesses based in Bucyrus. Though Reinhard also owns property in Delaware County, the property tax statement is mailed to the Bucyrus address and Reinhard does not claim homestead credit on the Delaware property. Reinhard and his wife also filed joint tax returns in which the Bucyrus address was used as the family’s residence.
Reinhard said he always intends to return to Crawford County when he travels to his other home in Radnor. He added that his step-children were required to remain in Delaware County due to a custody agreement Kerrie had with her previous husband.
His residence never changed, Reinhard stated. He added that even if the board determined that he lived in Delaware, he would still live in Crawford County.
“I would make it appear as if I lived here, too,” Surina said.
After considering the information presented, the Board of Elections unanimously voted to deny the challenge and determined that Reinhard maintained a residence in Bucyrus while his wife resided in Delaware County. A written decision will soon be filed with the Board of Elections.
“We recognize her (Surina’s) right to do a voter challenge,” Reinhard said after the hearing. “I want to not discourage people from doing that. However, it seems like most of the challenge was based on gossip. I’m kind of suspicious of the timing of the complaint when it could have been done any time over the last four years, not right before we begin the election process.
“I’d just like to thank the board for doing their work and coming to the conclusion that they did,” Reinhard added. “We had to give up a lot of private information to prove our innocence.”