Friday, July 31, 2015
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The Trumbull County Board of Elections will meet in special session at 9 a.m. Aug. 12 to hear a protest of the independent candidacy of Jeffrey Goodman for Warren law director.
A July 27 letter signed by Dori L. Talstein and Joseph J. Thomas, both of Warren, says Goodman should not be allowed on the ballot.
The letter claims the nominating petitions Goodman submitted to the elections board contain false statements regarding his voting address and his independent status.
The letter says Goodman’s petitions indicate his address is 174 North Park Ave., but he failed to file a voter registration change of address to that location until May 1, 2015.
Goodman’s voting address before that was 119 W. Market St., the address of his law practice, but that “is not Mr. Goodman’s residence, as required” by Ohio law, the letter says.
“Mr. Goodman’s use of his business address as his place of ‘fixed habitation’ is false and, therefore, his statements in his Statements of Candidacy that he is a qualified elector is also false,” the letter says.
The letter also says Goodman “has a recent history of being affiliated with the Democratic Party and is presently affiliated with the Democratic Party.”
Ohio law defines an independent candidate as “any candidate who claims not to be affiliated with a political party,” the letter says.
Goodman served as the Trumbull County Democratic Party parliamentarian in summer 2014, and Goodman filed a designation of treasurer with the Trumbull County Board of Elections Nov. 13, 2014, in connection with his present candidacy for Warren law director identifying his party affiliation as "Democrat,” the letter says.
Goodman said by telephone Thursday that the challenge is “just a desperate ploy by my opponent and his cronies,” adding: “There is no legal or factual basis for any of it, and we’re not worried about it at all.”
The other candidate in the race is the incumbent law director, Greg Hicks. The election is Nov. 3.
Goodman was registered to vote at 119 W. Market Street between April 26, 2012, and when he signed a voter registration change on May 1, 2015, the protest letter says.
“Mr. Goodman voted in four elections in Trumbull County during this time period: the 2012 General, 2013 General, 2014 Primary, and 2014 General,” the letter says, but he signed a sworn affidavit Oct. 3, 2012, stating that he was living at 117 Joan Circle in Campbell from 1999 to the present.
Talstein and Thomas, who say they are represented by Atty. Donald J. McTigue, asked the elections board to conduct an investigation to determine Goodman’s address and whether he unlawfully voted in the past.
The meeting will be at the board of elections offices, 2947 Youngstown Road S.E.