County elections board calls for investigation

Asks sheriff, outside agency to look into falsification involving GOP chair

WARREN -- The Trumbull County Board of Elections, in a 3-1 vote during a sometimes explosive two-hour meeting Friday, voted to ask the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office or an outside agency to look into two possible cases of election falsification, including one involving the chairman of the local GOP.

Petitions that were submitted for two independent candidates -- Dennis Malloy, who is seeking to run against Democrat Mauro Cantalamessa for Trumbull County commissioner, and John Barco, who sought a place in the election against Democrat Paul Monroe for Trumbull County sheriff -- were not certified by the board.

Both needed 749 signatures.

Barco has not appealed a decision by the board to reject his candidacy. Barco turned in 802 signatures, but only 710 were deemed valid. Malloy did appeal the decision to reject his candidacy and a hearing will be scheduled sometime the week of May 18, the board decided Friday. Malloy turned in petitions with 952 signatures, but only 704 were determined to be valid. Trumbull County Republican Party Chairman Kevin Wyndham circulated the petition for Malloy in question.

In both cases, the board invalidated sheets of the petitions because of instances of "double signing," when one person signs their own name and the name of someone else.

When a person who is circulating a nominating petition signs it declaring he or she witnessed all of the signatures under penalty of law and it comes to light they did not witness the signatures, the board has an obligation to turn the case over to an investigatory party, said Mark Alberini, board president and Democratic representative.

"That's how we've treated these in the past," Alberini said.

That does not mean the investigation will result in criminal charges, Alberini said, but it could. In February 2019, Lisha Pompilli Baumiller, a Democratic Hubbard councilwoman seeking re-election, turned in petitions with double signatures and her case was turned over to the sheriff's office by a board vote, motioned for by board member Ron Knight. Months later, she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of making a false affidavit or statement concerning an election petition in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Alberini said in order to act consistently, the matter has to be turned over for investigation.

The board's meeting Friday was a special meeting that included the "discussion" of the issues facing the candidates' petitions. When Alberini asked for a motion to send the two cases to the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office for investigation, Knight, a Republican appointee, objected.

Democratic board member Diana Marchese then asked if the matter couldn't be handled in Malloy's appeal hearing. However, Alberini said, the two matters are separate and not dependent on one another. The board could stick with its ruling not to qualify Malloy as a candidate or not, but there remains the question of whether the petition with the double signature is valid.

Knight raised several arguments during the meeting, including whether the sheriff's office should investigate someone who is seeking to unseat Monroe from the office. Alberini agreed and changed the wording of the motion to include using an outside agency to investigate the case of Barco's petitions.

Knight said the Ohio Supreme Court encourages competitive elections and Monroe and Cantalamessa -- who are otherwise unchallenged -- shouldn't be shielded from opponents because of petition issues. Alberini said he "wished" the candidates had enough signatures to run, but they don't, and the issue is separate from the board's duty to report possible election falsification.

Knight also argued the agenda for the meeting only included "discussion" and not action, and argued the board couldn't take action on the motion and stay in compliance with open meeting laws.

Alberini said the board's discussion could lead to a motion and overruled the objection.

Knight further fought the motion by appealing Alberini's overruling. And when Alberini said he overruled Knight's appeal, Knight said Alberini didn't "have the authority," calling for the other members to weigh in.

Marchese and Republican appointee Kathi Creed voted with Alberini, allowing a vote on the motion to refer the cases to the sheriff's office. Marchese, Alberini and Creed then voted to refer the case to the sheriff's office and outside investigators, but Knight voted against it.

Wyndham submitted to the board an affidavit explaining how the double signature occured, seeking to clarify that he did not "knowingly" allow a wife to sign for herself and her husband.

There seems to be a distinction between "knowingly" allowing a double signature to occur on a petition being circulated, as opposed to the circulator being unaware someone signed twice.

Alberini said the circulators sign the petition stating, under penalty of law, that they witnessed the signatures.

In Pompili Baumiller's case, she knew she was handing a petition to a spouse to take to another part of the house to be signed by the other spouse so she didn't have to track snow into the signers' home, Marchese said previously. Pompilli Baumiller argued at the time she didn't know the wives were signing for their husbands.

According to Wyndham's affidavit, he did not know a wife was signing for her husband and not just herself when she leaned down to sign a petition on a table at a county GOP function in March. The petition was on one of three tables, along with a raffle and sign-in sheet, the affidavit states.

"People were talking to me or calling out greetings or congratulations the whole time I was collecting signatures," the affidavit states, and he didn't see the woman sign more than one name.

"Had I known that (she) did so, I would have corrected her. After all, I circulated Mr. Malloy's petition with the intention of helping him secure enough signatures to be placed on the ballot," Wyndham said.

Alberini said it still is the board's responsibility to refer the case and it is up to investigators to determine if there is a case to pursue.

Correspondence from Malloy's attorney, Pat Quinn of Columbus, states Malloy is questioning the board's decision to invalidate signatures on his petition, including the invalidated petition Wyndham circulated, arguing the other signatures on that part could have been validated, along with other signatures invalidated for not being "genuine," not being registered or not being registered at the address listed.