YOUNGSTOWN - The Mahoning County Board of Elections held a meeting on Tuesday to certify the candidacy petitions for the Youngstown Mayoral Election.

Democratic Nominee and Incumbent Mayor Tito Brown is eligible.

Independent candidate Derrick McDowell is eligible.

Independent candidate Aleesha Foster was disqualified for lack of signatures. 134 valid signatures were required. She provided just over 40. Her petition was not dated or signed.

Independent candidate John White's certification is undecided at this time. He provided the required signatures and successfully submitted his petition, but an issue with a mayoral residency requirement has stalled his progress. 

White's attorney Ken Myers explained his argument is that the waters get murky when it comes to the charter and that White should be eligible.

"He's eligible because the charter says you have to be an elector and a resident for five years. So if he's gonna just be an elector that basically means someone who's eligible to vote," Myers said. "He's definitely eligible to vote and he's been a resident for more than five years. the question is whether the language of the charter is 'he has to be an elector for five years and a resident for five years,'" he said.

The City of Youngstown requires all mayoral candidates to be a resident of the city and be registered to vote in the city for five years. 

The Youngstown Law Department determined that White would not be eligible to run until at least 2026 due to him not registering to vote until 2021. 

The Board of Elections, who has the final say, will be holding a hearing on Monday, July 14 at 4:30 p.m. before voting on whether or not to certify White for the election.