TRUMBULL COUNTY Girard election petition is denied

An option to allow Sunday sales in Bazetta Precinct C will remain on the ballot.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The Trumbull County Board of Elections unanimously voted to throw out a page of an election petition because members were convinced a signature was forged, despite testimony from four people that it was legitimate.
As a result of the decision, the name of John J. Bevilaqua, an independent candidate for Girard council-at-large, will not appear on the November ballot.
The board rendered its decision Tuesday, the day after the deadline for Bevilaqua to have entered his name as a write-in candidate.
"We should have taken care of this before," Bevilaqua said after the hourlong hearing. "The board should have known the process it had to do."
Sheets rejected
The board initially decided to remove Bevilaqua from the ballot in June, after two of the three sheets of signatures he turned in were rejected because people had apparently been allowed to sign on behalf of their spouses.
Two board members reversed themselves at a hearing in August, after hearing Bevilaqua's explanation. The secretary of state then weighed in that the board of elections should meet again, this time both considering witness testimony and more handwriting samples.
Bevilaqua said that one of the sheets is probably invalid, because his elderly uncle signed that sheet on behalf of his aunt.
But he said the other rejected sheet was good, and that he personally witnessed both Phyllis and Joseph Datchuk sign his election petition over a bottle of homemade wine on the Datchuk's back deck.
At the hearing before the board of elections Tuesday, his wife confirmed the story, as did the Datchuk.
Put to the test
But the board also made the Datchuks sign and print their name 10 times so they could compare signatures against the petition, an exercise suggested by the secretary of state.
In the view of the board, they failed the test.
"There are several letters that are pretty easy to distinguish," said board member Craig Bonar.
If one forged signature is found, the board of elections must reject the entire sheet, said director Norma Williams. Twenty valid signatures are required to run for the Girard council-at-large seat.
Liquor option
In a separate matter, the board upheld petitions by Jagdish Bal, owner of Bal-Son BP in Bazetta Precinct C, to place a liquor option on the ballot.
The petitions were challenged by John Wallace, owner of Wallace Lakeside Sport Shop, because he was not notified of the option by Bal. Wallace said he could lose his right to sell alcohol on Sunday if the precinct-wide option fails.
His establishment was not on a list of affected businesses provided to Bal by the Ohio Department of Liquor Control.
In upholding the petitions, the board followed the recommendation of its lawyer, assistant county prosecutor Jim Saker.
siff@vindy.com