Staff photo / David Skolnick Jason Miner of Warren, right, defends himself during a Trumbull County Board of Elections hearing against accusations of election fraud brought against him by James Walker of Warren, left. The board voted to forward the matter to a state commission for further investigation.

WARREN — The Trumbull County Board of Elections voted to refer a case of potential election fraud and perjury by Jason Miner, who used the address of a house destroyed in a fire on his nominating petition for Republican central committee member, to the state’s Election Integrity Commission.

At the conclusion of Friday’s two-and-a-half-hour hearing, which included about 30 minutes of deliberating behind closed doors, the board voted 4-0 to forward the matter to the commission.

Board Chairman Mark Alberini said Friday the Miner referral “pertains to, but not limited to possible election fraud, filing for candidacy for election from an address that’s in question, voting from an address that is in question and potential perjury under oath.”

Friday’s hearing was a continuation of a June 1 one that lasted about 100 minutes. Miner was supposed to provide more information to the board, which ended up issuing subpoenas to Miner, his mother, stepfather, uncle and the woman with whom he currently lives. Miner’s uncle didn’t show Friday, with family members saying he’s in Florida.

After the vote, Miner said the Secretary of State’s Election Integrity Commission is “far more equipped and knowledgeable about election topics than this board of elections. They have a deep understanding of election law and I’m confident they’ll say there’s nothing here. I can’t say I’m disappointed as this was the result I was hoping for because (the integrity commission) is knowledgeable about what they do down there.”

Miner added: “This board is more interested in playing politics than they are about election integrity. My opinion (is) this is the best case scenario. They’ll determine I did absolutely nothing wrong. It could have been a far worse result. They could have pursued more political hearings and made this even more of a circus than it already is.”

James Walker of Belvedere Avenue in Warren filed a May 11 complaint with the board about Miner’s residence after the latter was elected unopposed as a Republican central committee member for Warren Precinct 5F. Miner was certified May 20 by the elections board.

Miner said 2634 Burton St. SE, where his family’s house was destroyed in a December fire, is where he intended to live once it was rebuilt.

But Miner said that changed after the initial June 1 hearing, when he discovered that his mother and stepfather, who both testified at Friday’s hearing, had moved to Vienna — and he has no intention of living there. Miner had a stormy tenure as the township’s fiscal officer, with Vienna suing him April 30 alleging he owes $5,646.04 in nonpayments and late fees.

Ashley Monteneri, Miner’s mother, testified that she bought the Vienna home in early April for her daughter and then decided to move there.

Miner changed his voter registration shortly after the June 1 hearing to 2105 Central Parkway SE, which is where he has lived since his family home was destroyed by a fire.

Miner said he did so because it was no longer certain that his family planned to rebuild at the Burton Street location.

Monteneri said rebuilding wasn’t out of the question, but didn’t know if it would ever happen.

Miner testified at the June 1 hearing that he owned a camper in Mecca, where he stayed on weekends. But at Friday’s hearing, he said he had rented it. After much hesitation, Miner said the camper is owned by Regina McManus, a political consultant. Board of elections member Marleah Campbell has clashed with McManus and Miner.

Miner said Friday that he either misspoke or didn’t understand the question of ownership of the camper when asked about it during the June 1 hearing.

After the hearing, Walker said: “The board came to the only conclusion it could. The answers (by the witnesses and Miner) were iffy. Anytime a person was asked a question that could have ended this, memories faded. But (Miner) knew exactly what he was doing the day he came to vote, who he spoke to and what they were talking about, but can’t remember the address on his tax return and refused to answer the questions that could have cleared him.”

Walker added: “If you look at the answers from the last hearing to this hearing, the board was within their right to mention the fact they believe perjury was committed. It didn’t make any sense.”

Walker said Miner could have used the Central Parkway address on his nominating petition as it and the Burton Street property are both in Warren Precinct 5F.

Walker said Miner switched addresses on the nominating petition to avoid getting served with the Vienna lawsuit.

Walker said Miner “made a lot of mistakes. He made a lot of enemies politically and it’s catching up to him. He doesn’t know the truth from his own name.”

Miner insisted during the hearing that he wasn’t hiding from the Vienna lawsuit and that if someone needed to serve him legal papers, he isn’t hard to find as he works as the administrator of the Newton Falls Police Department and as assistant fiscal officer for Warren Township.

Miner said: “I didn’t change my voter registration to (the Central Parkway) address because it was not, at that point, my intention to permanently reside at that address. I’m aware this all could have been prevented if I just said I’m going to register to vote at 2105 Central Parkway at this point in time. But if I would have done that I feel I would have been doing that fraudulently.”

Miner said: “If this whole thing is about election integrity, we should focus on election integrity. It would have been an absolute lie for me to come in in January or February and say this is where I’m going to live because, at the time, I did not think that was the case. Right now, it is. At that point, it was not.”