WARREN - Members of the Trumbull County Board of Elections gathered Wednesday afternoon in the small but cramped board room to announce that former congressman James A. Traficant has gathered enough signatures to be placed on this November's ballot.
Board Director Kelly Pallante announced once the meeting started that Traficant had enough signatures to run for the 17th U.S. Congressional District seat as an independent candidate.
''Today is a day to celebrate,'' Traficant supporter Linda Kovachik said. ''I'm very happy and elated.''
Traficant was not present at the meeting as he was on his way back to the Mahoning Valley from vacation with his family. Throughout the appeals process, Traficant has remained out of the spotlight, instead letting supporters lead the effort.
Although his place on the ballot has been reserved, he still needs to file a form with the Board of Elections stating his intention to run as a non-party candidate.
Trumbull County's certification comes two days after the Mahoning County Board of Elections approved 31 disputed signatures, putting Traficant 11 valid signatures above the 2,143 signature requirement.
To have his name placed on the ballot, Traficant needed to collect 1 percent of the total votes cast in the 2006 gubernatorial election. That number - 214,338 - and a number of rejected signatures were at the base of objections made by supporters when Traficant's petitions were denied in July.
Then Traficant, trying to re-enter politics after seven years in federal prison from a corruption conviction, was 107 signatures short. Supporters challenged the number of signatures Traficant was required to collect and disputed rejected signatures and eventually succeeded, able to win 11 more signatures than necessary.
Kovachik said the problems largely rested in Mahoning and Summit counties. In Mahoning, the board upped the 603 valid signatures to 647 and in Summit, the board reduced the vote total from 48,153 to 44,122.
Traficant will now be facing off against Democratic incumbent Timothy J. Ryan, D-Niles, and Republican James Graham of Cortland.
Now that Traficant is on the ballot, a legal watchdog group in Washington, D.C., has added him to the group's wall of shame.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has placed Traficant on its list of Most Crooked Candidates for his 2002 federal conviction. A news release calls Traficant an ''exceptional entry,'' given he's one of only two people expelled from the U.S. House since the Civil War.
''Given his felony convictions, for Mr. Traficant to claim he is the best person to represent the 17th district of Ohio suggests he has - to borrow his favorite tag-line - been beamed up by Scotty,'' said CREW executive director Melanie Sloan.