Votes for Heather Hill will not be counted after departure of her running mate

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – A candidate in the primary election has been disqualified after the resignation of her running mate.

Heather Hill was running as a Republican candidate for governor with Stuart Moats running as her potential lieutenant governor. Hill recently had a public falling out with her running mate which led to Moats filing to remove his name from the ballot.

Without an approved running mate, Hill has been disqualified from the race, which leads Vivek Ramaswamy and Casey Putsch to run for the nomination. Hill’s name is still printed on the ballot and early voting started on April 7. According to an official from the Muskingum County Board of Elections, any votes cast for Hill will not be counted. Voters who cast their vote for Hill before her disqualification do not get to recast their vote.

Hill is a Morgan county resident and according to a social media post from her campaign, they have filed to replace the lieutenant governor candidate but the filing was rejected by the Secretary of State. Running mates in the gubernatorial race cannot be changed with 70 days of early voting.