An Ohio elections board tied in a party-line vote on whether a challenge to Rep. Emilia Sykes’s (D-Ohio) voter registration requirements is valid—sending the matter now to the state’s secretary of state.
The vote followed a complaint filed with the Summit County Board of Elections in September by Republican activist Thomas Zawistowski.
Sykes, who faces GOP nominee Kevin Coughlin in a tight Nov. 5 election, described the allegation as “a deeply offensive lie.”
In the complaint, Zawistowski alleged that Sykes’s voter registration is for Akron, Ohio, in Summit County, but that she lives in Columbus, Ohio, in Franklin County. “Ohio law requires voter registration in the county of one’s primary residence,” Zawistowski said in the complaint.
Zawistowski said he used the financial disclosures of Sykes’s husband, Kevin Boyce, a Democrat Franklin County Commissioner, to determine residency.
He told the elections board during Thursday’s hearing that he felt like the issue needed to be investigated.
Don McTaig, Sykes’s attorney, requested the board to dismiss the case based on his argument that the documents on which Zawistowski relied didn’t prove that the congresswoman lived at another residence. The board denied the request and continued with the hearing.
McTaig also argued that the date of the hearing exceeded state law’s expiration for the challenge. He added that Sykes’s three-page affidavit submitted to the board confirms her Akron residency.
Sykes was not present for the meeting herself but submitted an affidavit detailing her community involvement, stating that before becoming the first black congresswoman for that district, she served as a state representative for Summit County for eight years.
She said Summit County is where she attends church, where she got married, and where she participates in several community organizations.
“My personal possessions are here, including furniture, clothing, kitchenware, items of sentimental value, my bible, and more,” Sykes said, adding that she has “no intention of leaving Akron.”
She reiterated that the city is her home.
Because of the tie, the issue will need to be reviewed by Secretary of State Frank LaRose at the request of the board members.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Republicans and the Democrats on the board each have two weeks to send a letter about the matter to Secretary of State Frank LaRose, so the dispute almost certainly will not be resolved before the election.
