Democratic lawmaker faces GOP challenge over voter registration

By Annie Grayer and Haley Talbot, CNN

(CNN) — Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes of Ohio is battling a last-minute challenge to her eligibility to vote in her district as a result of a complaint filed by a local Republican activist.

After a county elections board deadlocked over the issue on Thursday, the decision over whether the congresswoman can cast her ballot in Akron, Ohio, where she is registered to vote, will now come down to Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

Following the tied elections board vote, Sykes, who represents Ohio’s 13th District and is running for reelection, said in a statement to CNN, “These partisan games are a disservice to the voters in Ohio’s 13th Congressional district and the latest in a coordinated effort to rob them of their voice.”

The partisan challenge to her voter registration and ability to vote in her district does not challenge her eligibility to run and represent the district.

Even though the ruling on her voter registration is still up in the air, Sykes went forward with voting at her local polling place on Thursday, daring her opponents to discount her vote.

“I just voted early,” Sykes said outside the Summit County Board early voting location in a video shared with CNN.

The challenge to Sykes’ registration came from a local tea party Republican who brought the issue to the elections board. Tom Zawistowski filed a complaint that cited a financial disclosure form from Sykes’ husband, a county commissioner in a neighboring district, that listed the congresswoman as residing in his household. Based on this disclosure, Zawistowski argued Sykes should vote where her husband lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Sykes has provided the elections board a sworn affidavit, her driver’s license, her renter’s insurance policy and other documents that show she resides in Akron but did not attend the Thursday hearing in front of the Summit County elections board.

For Sykes, the issue is personal.

“Here I am, a Black woman member of Congress whose people who look like me only had the right to vote since 1965. Now someone who does not know me, who I don’t know, who could not articulate anything about me, has the right to challenge my voter registration just because he feels like it,” Sykes told CNN ahead of Thursday’s board meeting.

On Thursday, the four-person bipartisan board considering the matter evenly split along party lines, kicking the issue to the Ohio secretary of state’s office. The board has 14 days to submit the required information to LaRose who will then make a final determination, raising the question of if this will get resolved before Election Day, which is 12 days away.

The Republicans questioning Sykes’ eligibility repeatedly cited an Ohio law that states “the place where the family of a married person resides shall be considered to be the person’s place of residence.”

A spokesman for the House Republican campaign arm, Mike Marinella, said in a statement to CNN, “There are serious concerns about Emilia Sykes’ voter eligibility and she couldn’t even bother to show up to make her case.”

But Sykes’ lawyer, who was representing the congresswoman at the hearing on her behalf, argued during the proceeding that there is nothing wrong with Sykes and her husband living in different residences. The lawyer also said the statute Republicans continued to cite is based on the presumption that the place where the married person resides is also that person’s place of residence, which is not the case with Sykes and her husband.

“She says in her affidavit that she visits him sometimes in Columbus. He visits her, sometimes up here,” Don McTigue, Sykes’ lawyer, stated. “But these are two public servants who are devoting their lives to serving ,,, the citizens of their communities that they represent.”

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