When Jay G. Perez went to cast his ballot Tuesday, he said he was shocked to see that Patsy Thomas, his party's endorsed judicial candidate, had a Democratic challenger: himself.

Perez had bowed out of the Franklin County Municipal Court race on Sept. 28 to clear the way for Thomas.

Yesterday, Democrats questioned why the Franklin County Board of Elections failed to remove Perez from the computerized, touch-screen ballots -- an omission they think handed Republican David Tyack a win.

Perez, who didn't campaign because he didn't know he was running, netted 7 percent of the vote for Franklin County Municipal Court judge. Thomas lost to Tyack by about 5 percent.

"It's pretty clear she probably would have been able to pull through if she had even received a portion of my votes," Perez said.

Going to vote Tuesday was "bizarre," he said. "Right off the bat, as soon as I saw my name on there, I knew somebody had made a big mistake. I withdrew in time for them to take my name off the ballot."

But Franklin and Delaware county elections officials said Perez waited too long. The database already was set so paper ballots could be ordered and punch cards burned to program the electronic machines.

While the electronic machines are high-tech, elections officials say they are less nimble at permitting last-minute corrections than the old machines.

Elections officials from other counties confirm that pulling a candidate's name after the database has been set could shift the ballot: Candidates' names might no longer align with the tally of their votes.

Franklin County has 1,100 ballot configurations. Each alignment must be tested after any change.

Patsy Thomas' campaign manager is skeptical. "We are talking to a number of lawyers familiar with election law and we are definitely going to do something," said Greg Schultz.

Thomas, he said, "is sad and a little frustrated. We've both been operating under the assumption for weeks now that we were running against David Tyack, but the voters were misled when they saw three names."

Adding to the confusion Tuesday was that voters didn't always see notices that Issue 1 had been disqualified and that Perez was out.

Damschroder said he blasted a cell-phone message to all 854 presiding judges about 9 a.m. to remind them to post the notices. But many voters said they never saw the notices.

Schultz said he didn't.

Neither did Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who voted on the Far Northwest Side.

Possible discrepancies in the Thomas-Tyack race, along with some holes in state law governing ballot changes in the general election, may prompt new rules, Brunner said.

"I think it's something we should deal with," she said.

Tyack, however, said he did see the notice of Perez's withdrawal taped to his voting machine. Tyack is to assume the bench as soon as the election results are certified, in about three weeks, because he is replacing an appointee.

Thomas' loss is stinging for Democrats because she was Gov. Ted Strickland's first judicial appointee.

Janet Brenneman, director of the Delaware County Board of Elections, said Perez also withdrew too late to pull him off the electronic ballots. Delaware serves four Columbus precincts, whose voters choose Franklin County Municipal Court judges.

"You just can't make changes late in the game," she said. "There reaches a point of no return."

William A. Anthony Jr., chairman of the Franklin County Democratic Party, said he'd tried to get Perez to pull out earlier. But he doesn't blame Perez for ending up on the ballot.

"The timing was bad," Anthony said.

But Perez is upset. He didn't want to hurt Thomas or voters.

"What's so sad," he said, "is that the citizens who voted for Jay Perez, their vote didn't count."

bcarmen@dispatch.com

bcadwallader@dispatch.com