Jim Traficant, the former congressman and ex-con, has enough signatures to get on the ballot for his old House seat.
Last night, according to the Youngstown Vindicator, a county board of elections certified another 31 signatures that Traficant supporters had argued were valid.
That, along with another board’s decision to lower the number of signatures needed to get on the ballot, puts Traficant over the top. The final, official decision will be made Wednesday by a third county board.
When Traficant submitted his petition earlier this summer, he was 107 signatures short. But his supporters argued that the number of signatures needed — which should be one percent of the number of votes cast in the last election — was incorrect. Elections officials agreed.
Traficant was released from prison last year after serving seven years for bribery, racketeering and tax evasion convictions. He was expelled from Congress in 2002.
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