Court rules in favor of Mahoning County Board of Elections on Ciccone lawsuit

Last week, visiting Judge Mark K. Wiest, granted a motion filed by Prosecutor Gina DeGenova and Assistant Prosecutor Jacqueline Johnston seeking the dismissal of Attorney Michael P. Ciccone’s lawsuit against the Mahoning County Board of Elections.

Attorney Ciccone’s lawsuit was filed on December 7, 2023 and alleged that the Board of Elections failed to provide him access to Board records relating to Jennifer Ciccone’s failed bid for Judge of the Struthers Municipal Court last November.

According to the complaint filed by Ciccone, he and Jennifer Ciccone asked the Board of Elections to procure fourteen categories of records for their inspection on Nov. 28, 2023 at noon. Neither Michael nor Jennifer Ciccone showed up on the 28th at noon or at any time thereafter to inspect these records.

On Dec. 19, 2023, a motion was filed by Prosecutor DeGenova and APA Johnston arguing that Ciccone’s complaint failed to state a valid cause of action against the Board of Elections and asked the Court to dismiss the case.

On Feb. 5, Judge Wiest granted this motion noting that:

• Ciccone did not appear on Nov. 28 at noon and has not requested any additional inspection dates.
• The Mahoning County Board of Elections has never denied Ciccone’s request for inspection and apparently has responded to a separate request for records.

Incidentally, at the time Ciccone filed this records lawsuit against the Board of Elections, an election contest filed by voters for Attorney Jennifer Ciccone was pending before the Seventh District Court of Appeals.

In this suit, it was alleged that the Mahoning County Board of Elections committed “numerous errors...mistakes...irregularities and fraud” in the Struthers judicial race and these voters asked the court to “set aside” the results of this race and deem that a vacancy exists. While Ciccone inexplicably dismissed this election contest less than two weeks after it was filed, he continued to pursue the records case against the Board.

According to Prosecutor DeGenova, who serves as counsel to the Mahoning County Board of Elections, “This lawsuit was baseless and I am glad Judge Wiest agreed. There is no dispute that neither Michael nor Jennifer Ciccone showed up to inspect these records on November 28, 2023 at noon despite the fact that they personally chose this date and time. The Board of Elections acted properly and within the bounds of the law.”