Candidate’s residency disputed

By D.a. Wilkinson

LISBON — Lisbon Mayor Michael Lewis has filed a challenge to a village businesswoman’s bid to vote.

Lewis filed the challenge Friday at the Columbiana County Board of Elections against Susan Mowery, who is running for council.

In his formal challenge, Lewis wrote that Mowery, “does not and has not ever lived at the address [431 W. Lincoln Way]. She is not a resident of the village of Lisbon. She resides at 13336 state Route 164 [in] Wayne Township.”

Lewis said she should be running for a position in Wayne Township.

According to the challenge, committing election falsification is a fifth-degree felony.

The mayor brought up the residency issue earlier this year but took no action.

Challenging her right to vote could knock her out of the race.

The house is historically noteworthy because it was the birthplace of Clement Vallandigham, who opposed the Civil War to the point that President Abraham Lincoln had him banished to the Confederacy.

The home was sold last year, and Mowery said she and workers have been making improvements.

But the mayor said that he can see her house from his house, and there are no signs that anyone lives in the house.

Mowery said the mayor can’t see her home from his house.

Lewis said that there are more than enough candidates to fill the council positions and that she should step aside.

Adam Booth, the deputy director of elections, said the board will meet Tuesday to discuss the complaint.

Booth said the board could make a decision on whether she does or doesn’t reside at the house. Any legal advice would come from the county prosecutor’s office.

Virginia Barborak, Lisbon’s law director, said she was not sure she would be involved in the case. She noted that officials in Columbus are trying to clarify what constitutes a legal residence.

Mowery said that although she is a registered Republican, she said she filed to run for council as an independent.

However, Booth said that she is a registered Democrat who voted as a Democrat in 2008 and 2004.

Mowery registered with the elections board last year as living at 431 W. Lincoln Way and cast an absentee vote as an independent, according to elections-board records.

If the elections board takes no action against Mowery and she wins, council could take up the issue.

wilkinson@vindy.com