Friday, February 15, 2013
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Three of the people who turned in nominating petitions to run in the May 7 primary had their petitions rejected Thursday by the Trumbull County Board of Elections and won’t be on the ballot.
The three are Karen Y. Jennings, one of four people who turned in petitions to run for the 1st Ward council position in Warren being vacated by Fiore Dippolito; Mark Zuppo Sr., the only person turning in petitions to run as Girard treasurer; and Jerome C. Crowe, one of three people turning in petitions to run for three seats as at-large Hubbard councilman.
Jennings, a Democrat, turned in 29 signatures, 11 of which were ruled invalid, and she needed 25.
Two of the people who signed her petitions voted Republican in the last primary election, eight people were not registered voters, and one printed his or her signature and it didn’t match the signature on file at the elections board.
Zuppo didn’t sign his name on one of the four petitions attesting that he witnessed the signing of all of the names on the petition, which eliminated all of the signatures on that petition.
Board of Elections member Mark Alberini noted that Zuppo now could run as a write-in if he files by the Feb. 25 deadline, but Alberini said he found it “unfortunate that such a glaring error” didn’t get noticed before it was too late to correct.
Alberini said Zuppo “should have known that, but this could have been averted with a quick glance at” the petitions by the elections-board staff.
Crowe turned in 57 signatures, needed 50 and had only 46 valid signatures after six were ruled invalid for voting as a Republican in 2012, one was eliminated for not being a registered voter, two were not registered at the location listed on the petition, one lived in Hubbard Township instead of Hubbard, and one printed his or her signature and it didn’t match the signature on file at the elections board.
A person’s signature won’t be valid on a nominating petition if the person voted in the opposite party of the candidate within the past two years, said Kelly Pallante, elections-board director.
The other candidates and issues on the May 7 ballot were approved for the ballot.
Because there won’t be any contested races in the May primary in Hubbard, all the polling places in the city will be closed for that election, Pallante said.