Traficant appeals being thrown off ballot

WARREN

Two members of Jim Traficant’s election committee submitted a 5-page appeal letter to the Trumbull County Board of Elections today, asking the boards of election in Mahoning, Trumbull, Portage and Summit counties to review the petitions Traficant submitted in his run for the 17th Congressional district.

The letter says the elections boards improperly invalidated 250 signatures in all, including 134 in Mahoning County and 88 in Trumbull County.

In all, 489 signatures were deemed invalid on Trumbull County petitions, and 471 signatures were ruled invalid from Mahoning County.

The letter says “vastly overly stringent standards” for petition signatures were used on the petitions, and the committee asks the elections boards to reconsider its rulings.

“Every citizen who put their name on this petition, whether signed or printed, did so with he clear intent of putting the name of James Traficant on the ballot,” the letter said.

Traficant’s bid to get on the ballot was ruled to be 107 signatures short of qualification, but based on mistakes found in Mahoning, Summit and Portage counties so far, that number is now down to about 55.