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Petitions for Celina City Council members removal signed after voting down abortion ban

CELINA — Less than a week after Celina City Council voted down an abortion ban; petitioners have been trying to get the members who voted no out of office.

The Mercer County Board of Election has four petitions, all with the same objective.

Council Member Michael Sovinski and three other members voted down a proposed abortion ban in Celina.

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The proposal would have made Celina a sanctuary city, where they would have banned and criminalized abortions. It would also make abortion medication illegal in the city.

Sovinski told us he doesn’t think abortion clinics should be allowed to open in Celina.

“I don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” Sovinski said. However, he said he doesn’t think it should be up to him. “My feelings are that if the community of Celina wants to have this ordinance, it needs to be put on the initiative ballot and let the community for itself speak, not us seven people.”

Thomas Sanford, a resident from Celina, said, “I believe that the people were not heard.”

Sanford is one of three people the Mercer County Board of Elections said filed the petitions against the four council members who voted no.

“I feel like the people weren’t represented very well.” Sanford continued, “the majority of public speakers at the meetings actually were for the ordinance that were residents, so I really want to make sure people’s voices were heard.”

The petitions are calling for recall elections for the four council members. They say council members are disregarding what the majority of residents wanted. Saying it’s sending the wrong message to the city’s children, putting unborn children at risk, and risking businesses having an abortion facility next door.

Kristi Rable, a Mercer County Board of Elections Director says, “the process is something that we’re looking into.”

According to Rable, the petition each has enough signatures. The next step is for Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, Andrew Hinders to work on certifying the petitions.

Hinders said, “there are multiple procedures for any type of election with regard to city, there are multiple types of cities available within the state of Ohio.” He went on to say his office is waiting on Celina’s law director to tell them what type of city Celina is; in order to know how to proceed.

This matters because it determines which law the county will use to figure out if the petitions are sufficient to put a recall election on may’s ballot.

Which could oust Sovinski and three fellow council members from their seats.

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Sovinski says, “I guess I would rather have seen them put their effort into passing petitions to put the initiative on the ballot rather than trying to get away with us four people who have a different point of view than them.”

News Center 7′s Molly Koweek reached out to all four council members about the petitions.

Eric Lochtefeld sent in a statement saying he is looking forward to returning to normal city business.

June Scott and Myron Buxton turned down the request for comment.

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