Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has determined that questions surrounding the congressional candidacy of James A. Traficant need definite answers before it can be decided whether he's permitted to appear on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Breaking a 2-2 deadlock at the Trumbull County Board of Elections, Brunner, joining board members who voted Aug. 10 against certifying petitions, has ordered they be held in abeyance until lingering issues in Summit and Mahoning counties are resolved.
Traficant supporters are calling Wednesday's ruling a formality toward the inevitable: Traficant, 69, making the November ballot.
''They will have to certify the sufficiency and have to include registered voters they knocked out and in Summit County, they will have finally come up with an authentic figure for a threshold,'' said supporter Werner Lange of Newton Falls.
''They cannot resist the facts. The facts are he has sufficient signatures,'' Lange said. ''Their figures are wrong. We proved it.''
Brunner is calling for the Mahoning County Board of Elections to hold a hearing to consider concerns supporters raised about a number of invalidated petition signatures among the 1,074 submitted and to recertify to Trumbull County a valid signature number.
Brunner said she would provide the latest date the hearing could be held and the latest date for Trumbull County to determine the certification of Traficant's candidacy.
In Summit County, there are questions about the number of valid petition signatures Traficant was required to collect.
He needed signatures equal to 1 percent of the total votes cast in Ohio's 17th U.S. Congressional District - parts of Trumbull, Mahoning, Summit and Portage counties - in the 2006 gubernatorial election.
The number of votes cast was originally determined as 219,926, meaning Traficant was required to collect 2,199 valid signatures. After a challenge, the total votes cast was determined to be 215,408, meaning Traficant needed 2,154 signatures.
However, Summit county submitted two vote totals. Originally, the number was set at 45,192, but later determined 44,122 because of split precincts. When the board was asked to reconsider the vote totals by Trumbull, it again submitted the higher number.
''The Summit County Board should have submitted the lower number since such a determination had been reached and in keeping with the general legal precept that the law favors the holding of elections in furtherance of self-governance by the people,'' Brunner's decision states.
Traficant was 107 valid signatures short of making the ballot when the petitions were first rejected. After supporters challenged the rejection and triggered a review, adjusted signature requirements and the validation of previously rejected signatures still left Traficant 31 signatures away from the ballot.
By lowering the threshold in Summit County, that puts Traficant 11 signatures closer, leaving him just 20 short, Brunner's ruling states.
Traficant is attempting a return to politics after about seven years in prison on federal corruption charges. He was released in September. If successful, Traficant, who represented the Mahoning Valley in Congress for nearly two decades would be an independent candidate against Democratic incumbent Rep. Timothy J. Ryan of Niles and Republican challenger Jim Graham of Cortland.