Jefferson County Board of Elections reverses certification decision
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STEUBENVILLE -- Reversing a previous decision, the Jefferson County Board of Elections decided to certify a Democratic candidate for county commissioner, following changes to his signature petitions that could have invalidated the documents.
The decision came after testimony from the candidate, Todd M. Mazzaferro of 5636 state Route 646, Bloomingdale, and Eddie Abdalla, chairman of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, followed by deliberation from the board.
Mazzaferro said he is "excited" for the chance to run for commissioner. The board confirmed Mazzaferro will be certified and appear on the March Democratic primary ballot.
Mazzaferro had asked the board for a reconsideration hearing after he filed to run for commissioner on Dec. 18, but four days later received notice that he had not been certified. Of issue was the start date of the term being filed for, as the number "two" on the petitions had been rewritten as "three" on all four signature-gathering petition forms.
Whether Mazzaferro filed for the Jan. 2, 2025, seat or the Jan. 3, 2025, seat would determine his potential competitors in the March primary or November general election. The Jan. 2 seat would pit him against former commissioner and fellow Democrat Thomas "Bo" Graham in the primary for outgoing Commissioner Dave Maple's seat, while the Jan. 3 seat would set him unopposed in the primary, ultimately vying against Republican and incumbent Commissioner Tony Morelli.
Mazzaferro and Abdalla testified separately during the hearing, which was overseen by attorney Frank Bruzzese, who facilitated the meeting's conduct and rendered advice as an assistant prosecutor to the bipartisan board, composed of Chairman Tom Gentile, Frankie DiCarlantonio, Robert Martin Sr. and Brian Moffat.
In his testimony, Mazzaferro said he connected with Abdalla after expressing interest in running for local office. Mazzaferro having never run for an election before, the two met at the Democratic headquarters in Steubenville on Nov. 27 to fill out the top portions of the four signature-gathering petition forms.
Abdalla testified that he had petitions left over that Graham had filled out for his own candidacy -- Abdalla had circulated, or gathered signatures, for Graham for the same election cycle. Using Graham's petition as a template, Abdalla and Mazzaferro copied the appropriate filing information to Mazzaferro's petition, changing certain information, such as the candidate's name.
However, Abdalla said, he checked online to verify the correct start date of the term Mazzaferro was seeking, that being Morelli's seat. Seeing that the date was listed for Maple's seat rather than Morelli's, Abdalla and Mazzaferro allegedly changed the "two" to a "three" on each petition during that same meeting on Nov. 27.
The two testified that they made the changes before the petitions were circulated, an important distinction given that, if any signatures had been gathered before the changes were made, it would amount to misleading the signees and justify the denial of certification.
"It's two different offices ... (akin to) auditor and treasurer," Gentile told Mazzaferro during the hearing. "If one signature went on that petition before that date was changed, somebody signed for you to run for one office when, in fact, you changed to run for another office."
"I agree, but like I said, I have never misled anybody as to which office I would run for. I was always up-front in telling them that I was running against Morelli," Mazzaferro responded.
Mazzaferro said also that it would be nonsensical for him to file against Graham for the primary when there was another seat available.
Questioned later by DiCarlantonio, Mazzaferro said he learned a "valuable lesson" about the importance of going to the board of elections office to verify that forms are done correctly, but he said there is no requirement to do so and maintained that the changes were done prior to circulation, divorced from any intention to mislead.
Mazzaferro and Abdalla were the only witnesses to the changes, limiting available evidence as to the truth of their statements to their word only.
Gentile asked Abdalla: "Do you have any way, beyond your word, of proving to us when that change was made and that there wasn't a single signature on that petition before that date was changed?"
"We are eyewitnesses," Abdalla said, "and in a court of law, an eyewitness is good enough to prove what is being said is true. I guess the question becomes 'Do you have an eyewitness that could refute it?'"
Mazzaferro also was given the opportunity to argue as to why his petition should have been certified. He stated, "I want my petition certified because I just want the opportunity to serve the county. ... I grew up here, my dad and mom grew up here (and) I was raised here. I just want the opportunity to ... try to make things better for my family and for my generation coming up."
The board took their testimonies into executive session for deliberation, provided also with documents from Abdalla -- sourced from Ohio Revised Code, the Supreme Court of Ohio and the Ohio Secretary of State's office -- that allegedly suggest the original decision by the board had been unjustly made, asserting that a formal complaint must be given in writing first.
Following the return from executive session and the decision in Mazzaferro's favor, Abdalla said, "We are glad that the board of elections made the right decision to put Mazzaferro on the ballot in March."