Lawyer Anthony DeGidio won the backing of the Lucas County Republican Party executive committee Tuesday night for a vacant seat on the Lucas County Board of Elections.

With about 40 members in attendance at the party’s Warehouse District headquarters, the executive committee voted unanimously to recommend Mr. DeGidio, 56, of Maumee, for the seat vacated last week by Patrick Kriner.

If the recommendation is approved by Secretary of State Jon Husted, Mr. DeGidio would join county GOP chairman Jon Stainbrook on the board along with two Democrats to oversee elections in the county. Mr. Stainbrook was sworn in on the board last week.

Mr. DeGidio represented Mr. Stainbrook and the party in lawsuits against the board of elections over the last three years as Mr. Stainbrook battled the board, including previous Republican members, over what he said was their illegal support for his political opponents and refusal to release public documents.

Mr. DeGidio also assisted in a failed legal effort to overturn the results of the November, 2010, Lucas County board of commissioners election on behalf of Republican candidate George Sarantou. Mr. Sarantou claimed in a suit that he lost the election because the board improperly counted provisional ballots. The suit was dismissed, but the secretary of state later ordered dismissals of the board’s director and deputy director over the handling of provisional ballots.

“I appreciate the opportunity to serve the public in this capacity, and it’s an important capacity, given the history of the board of elections,” Mr. DeGidio told committee members after the vote.

First Published June 22, 2011, 1:13 a.m.