Former Ohio Congressman James Traficant filed 3,138 signatures on May 3, to be an independent candidate for U.S. House in the 17th district. Ohio elections officials say that the petition is insufficient. Traficant needed 2,199 valid signatures, and elections officials say he only submitted 2,092 valid signatures, for a validity rate of 66.67%. Traficant disputes the determination. See this story.
This is an unfortunate situation where the establishment is keeping another viable candidate off the ballot. Free & Equal will put an end to this.
Somebody dropped the ball here. As popular as Traficant still is, it is hard to beleive they came up short. Somebody “assumed” and we all know what “ass u me” (ing) does.
Still this is unfortunate. I’m not saying he was not guilty of the charges but I’m sure there are some still in Washington who’ve done worse – they just haven’t gotten caught.
I hope he will appeal on some technical grounds. Richard, doesn’t Ohio allow (or require) major party candidates to pay filing fees to qualify – even if unopposed in the primaries? Why not encourage Mr. Trificant to ask the Court to let him pay a reasonable filing fee for making the general election ballot? This might set a precedent and knock down some barriers.
Let us know Richard.
This made me laugh at the time. It’s even funnier now since it came true:
http://www.cafepress.com/freetraficant.12471182
Ohio requires party members to submit a small petition to get on a primary ballot. A few years ago an important Democratic Party candidate failed to get the needed 50 signatures to get on his party’s primary ballot, but he still won the nomination via write-in votes, and went on to be elected in the general election.
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Richard. Thanks for responding, but you still did not address the most important part of my question. What chances would Traficant have if he asked the Court to allow him to pay a filing fee in lieu of the signatures? If no filing fees are required in Ohio for any public office, then this would be a moot approach. But if they are, then the same fee required for a Democrat or Republican to qualify for the same congressional district Traficant is seeking could serve as the argument for Traficant. In other words, if state law requires the Democrat or Republican to pay $2500 to qualify, then why couldn’t Traficant go to the Court and say if the state will allow the Democrat and Republican to qualfy with $2500, then why not let me pay the $2500 to qualify also? Has this argument ever been used in court as an alternative to petition signatures?
Tim Ryan’s neighbor and buddy was in charge of validating the signatures so there was no way that Traficant was going to get on the ticket. The fix was in from the get go !I think that presents a conflict of interest and reeks of coruption that this area is well known for !
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