Traficant to Stay on Ballot Despite Expulsion, Prison
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Former Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. will stay on the Nov. 5 election ballot, even though he has been expelled from the House and is housed in federal prison, election officials say.
The Trumbull County Board of Elections decided Wednesday not to remove the expelled congressman from the ballot.
Prosecutor Dennis Watkins told the board it didn’t have the authority to remove Traficant because the U.S. Constitution grants citizens the right to vote for and elect whomever they choose.
The only limits set by the Constitution for House members are that they be at least 25 years old, U.S. citizens and an inhabitant of the state from which they are elected.
Watkins said Traficant could be considered an Ohio resident because his wife lives there and his stay in a Pennsylvania prison is involuntary confinement.
Traficant, 61, was expelled from the House last month and sentenced to eight years in prison for bribery, racketeering and tax evasion. The nine-term congressman is an inmate at the minimum-security Allenwood federal prison in White Deer, Pa.
He petitioned to be on the ballot as an independent in Ohio’s recently redrawn 17th District and vowed to run from prison.
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