Ohio Supreme Court restores O’Neill to 2020 Ohio House ballot
On Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court decided to restore Athens County resident and Ohio University alumna, Katie O’Neill, to the ballot for Ohio’s 94th District House of Representatives' seat.
O’Neill is the Democratic challenger to incumbent Republican Ohio House Majority Whip Jay Edwards.
In February, the Athens County Board of Elections unanimously ruled to disqualify O’Neill from the ballot under the premise that she did not meet the residency requirement. The residency requirement states that anyone with the intention to run has to live in the district at least one year prior to the election.
The Board of Elections was presented with evidence from a private investigator that O’Neill was not living in her Athens County residence by the Nov. 3, 2019 deadline.
However, the Ohio Supreme Court decided 6-1 to restore O’Neill to the ballot citing there was evidence O’Neill had moved to Athens County on Oct. 14, 2019.
O’Neill graduated from Ohio U and Vermont Law School, specializing in history, energy law and policy and environmental law. Her father, former Ohio Justice Bill O’Neill, sat on the state’s highest court from 2014 to 2018, when he unsuccessfully ran for governor, according to a report from the Associated Press.
