This story says that the Ohio petition to put former Congresssman Jim Traficant on the November ballot as an independent for U.S. House now is only short 31 signatures. Furthermore, Trumbull County’s Board of Elections is refusing to make a clear statement of how many signatures Traficant has in that county. The Secretary of State will now need to rule on the matter.
This is another reason why we must work for legislation which will allow independent candidates the option of paying a filing fee to get on the ballot. then, if you don’t have enough signatures, you only have yourself to blame if enough signatures aren’t collected. It would be downright “unAmerican” if Traficant is denied ballot position because of being 31 signatures short.
I hope Traficant will go to court and sue on the grounds that he met the “spirit of the law” if not the actual letter of the law. Perhaps the judge will be one who sees the broader picture of this and will order him placed on.
But folks, stop wasting your time only trying to get the number or percentage of signatures lowered. Work for legislation which will allow independents and 3rd party candidates to pay a filing fee as an option – especially when the required number of signatues amount to tens of thousands of names.
Forget Mumia – Free James Traficant!
or, for those of us who remember the late 80s:
Jail Zsa Zsa, Free James Brown
Traficant shoulda run as a Whig.
He could have run on a third party ballot and avoided ALL of this. signature requirements were lower.
Yeah, 25 is pretty low.
Ol Jim still has a chance..
maybe he still joins the Green Party..
Traficant never was short- the losers cheating for Ryan at the B.0.E.- decided he was short.