Case Title: State ex rel. Tremmel v. Erie Cty. Bd. of Elections

Citation: 2009-Ohio-5773

Docket Number: 20091968

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2009-11-02T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
State ex rel. Tremmel v. Erie Cty. Bd. of Elections, Slip Opinion No. 2009-Ohio-5773.] 
 
 
 
NOTICE 
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in 
an advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports.  Readers are requested 
to promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 
65 South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or 
other formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be 
made before the opinion is published. 
 
SLIP OPINION NO. 2009-OHIO-5773 
THE STATE EX REL. TREMMEL v. ERIE COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS ET AL. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State ex rel. Tremmel v. Erie Cty. Bd. of Elections,  
Slip Opinion No. 2009-Ohio-5773.] 
Elections — Voter registration — Writs of prohibition and mandamus to compel 
county board of elections to register petitioner as elector of county — 
Petitioner did not appeal board’s previous determinations that he was not 
county resident, nor did he deny that circumstances have changed since 
previous determinations — Petitioner is thus barred by res judicata from 
contesting residency determination — Board did not abuse discretion or 
disregard applicable law by denying application to register — Writs 
denied. 
(No. 2009-1968 — Submitted November 2, 2009 — Decided November 2, 2009.) 
IN MANDAMUS AND PROHIBITION. 
_____________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} This is an expedited election action for (1) a writ of mandamus to 
compel respondents, Erie County Board of Elections and its members, to register 
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relator, Martin J. Tremmel, as an elector of Erie County and to maintain or add 
Tremmel’s name to the registration rolls and pollbooks as a registered elector of 
Erie County, and (2) a writ of prohibition to prevent the board of elections and its 
members from refusing to register Tremmel as an elector of Erie County and from 
removing Tremmel from the registration rolls and pollbooks as a registered 
elector of Erie County.  Because res judicata barred Tremmel from contesting the 
board’s previous determination that he is not a resident of Kelleys Island, Erie 
County, and he conceded that he has not alleged a change in circumstances from 
when the board previously decided the issue, we deny the writs. 
Facts 
{¶ 2} Relator, Martin J. Tremmel, and his wife both grew up in 
Sandusky in Erie County, Ohio.  Tremmel and his wife met at Kelleys Island in 
Erie County at a 4-H camp and spent time on the island during their childhood.  In 
1989, Tremmel worked in infectious-disease coordination for Erie County and he 
lived in Milan in Erie County.  While in Milan, the Tremmels’ children were 
born, his daughter in 1989 and his son in 1992.  Sometime after the children were 
born, the Tremmels moved to Huron in Erie County.  They subsequently sold the 
Huron residence.  Tremmel worked as the Seneca County Health Commissioner 
from 1992 to 1995.  From 1996 to 2003, Tremmel worked as the Huron County 
Health Commissioner.   
{¶ 3} In 1999, Tremmel and his wife purchased a house and adjacent 
property on Kelleys Island.  They use the adjacent property as a seasonal rental.  
Around 2002, Tremmel and his wife purchased a home in Columbus in Franklin 
County.  Tremmel’s wife works as an administrator for the Worthington School 
District in Franklin County.  In 2003, Tremmel became the Union County Health 
Commissioner.  He worked there until 2008. 
{¶ 4} In March 2008, Tremmel was appointed Assistant Director for 
Policy, Planning, and Administration for the Ohio Department of Health.  
January Term, 2009 
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Tremmel claims that this state position is demanding and time-consuming, 
requiring him to spend a significant amount of time in Columbus. 
{¶ 5} Shortly after Tremmel bought the Kelleys Island property, he 
registered to vote in Kelleys Island, Erie County.  In 2002 and 2003, respondent 
Erie County Board of Elections, evidently in a proceeding challenging Tremmel’s 
qualifications as an elector of Kelleys Island, considered and rejected Tremmel’s 
claim that he is a resident of Kelleys Island for purposes of registering to vote.  
According to Tremmel, the board’s decision was premised on the fact that his 
children did not attend school in Kelleys Island.  There is no evidence that 
Tremmel ever filed suit to contest the board’s previous determination that he is 
not a resident of Kelleys Island, Erie County. 
{¶ 6} In late September 2009, Tremmel completed a voter-registration 
form and transmitted the form to respondent Erie County Board of Elections.  On 
the form, Tremmel declared that his address is “117 Hamilton Rd., Kelleys Island, 
43438.”  By letter dated October 8, the board notified Tremmel that a hearing had 
been scheduled “to determine if the information you have provided is sufficient to 
allow you to once again register to vote on Kelleys Island.”  No protest or 
challenge had been filed against Tremmel’s right to register to vote in Erie 
County. 
{¶ 7} On October 22, the board of elections considered the matter.  
Tremmel was the only person who appeared before the board, and at that hearing, 
he stated that he has been a resident of Kelleys Island, Erie County since he 
purchased the property in 1999 and that his intention is to remain a resident there.  
Tremmel claimed that his Kelleys Island residence is his permanent home, to 
which he intends to return whenever he is absent.  Tremmel provided the board 
with copies of his driver’s license, a banking statement, and a tax return, which all 
listed his Kelleys Island home as his residence.  Tremmel stated that he is not 
currently registered to vote anywhere in the state. 
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{¶ 8} Nevertheless, Tremmel admitted that he spends at least two-thirds 
of his time at his Columbus home, that his wife lives, works, and votes in Franklin 
County, that his children have never resided at his Kelleys Island property, that he 
did not know if anyone outside his family could testify that he lives on Kelleys 
Island, that the bills for the Kelleys Island property are either paid automatically 
from his and his wife’s Columbus accounts or mailed to his Columbus home, and 
that he does not participate in community activities in Kelleys Island.  Tremmel 
stated that he considered the home for his youngest child, who is attending school 
in Florida, to be Columbus. 
{¶ 9} One of the board members submitted into evidence a March 17, 
2008 Marysville Journal-Tribune newspaper article, which referred to Tremmel as 
being a resident of Worthington, which is located in Franklin County.  Other than 
the reference to the Worthington residence, Tremmel did not dispute the facts 
detailed in the article or object to its introduction into evidence, and much of his 
other testimony confirmed the specified facts. 
{¶ 10} At the beginning of the hearing, the board indicated that it needed 
to consider whether there had been changed circumstances relative to Tremmel’s 
voting qualifications since the board had previously considered the residency 
issue in 2002 and 2003.  There is no evidence that Tremmel ever filed an appeal 
or other litigation to challenge the board’s previous decisions.  Near the 
conclusion of the hearing, Tremmel conceded that there were no changed 
circumstances from when the board last held a hearing and rejected his claimed 
residency in Kelleys Island, Erie County. 
{¶ 11} After convening an executive session, the board of elections voted 
unanimously that Tremmel had not provided evidence of a change in 
circumstances and denied his application to vote in Kelleys Island, Erie County.  
In effect, the board determined that Tremmel is not a resident of Erie County for 
purposes of voting. 
January Term, 2009 
5 
 
{¶ 12} Six days later, on October 28, Tremmel filed this expedited 
election action for writs of mandamus and prohibition against respondents, the 
board of elections and its members.  On that same day, we ordered the board and 
its members to submit an answer and the parties to submit evidence and briefs by 
October 30.  State ex rel. Tremmel v. Erie Cty. Bd. of Elections, __ Ohio St.3d __, 
2009-Ohio-5681, __ N.E.2d __.  The board of elections and its members 
submitted an answer, and the parties submitted evidence and briefs.  In addition, 
the secretary of state submitted an amicus curiae brief in support of neither 
Tremmel nor the board and its members. 
{¶ 13} This cause is now before the court for our consideration of the 
merits. 
Legal Analysis 
{¶ 14} Tremmel seeks writs of mandamus and prohibition to compel the 
board of elections and its members to register him as a Kelleys Island, Erie 
County elector and to maintain his name on the registration rolls and pollbooks 
for Kelleys Island. 
{¶ 15} To establish his entitlement to the requested extraordinary relief, 
among other things, Tremmel “must prove that the board of elections engaged in 
fraud, corruption, abuse of discretion, or clear disregard of statutes or other 
pertinent law.”  Rust v. Lucas Cty. Bd. of Elections, 108 Ohio St.3d 139, 2005-
Ohio-5795, 841 N.E.2d 766, ¶ 8; State ex rel. Brown v. Butler Cty. Bd. of 
Elections, 109 Ohio St.3d 63, 2006-Ohio-1292, 846 N.E.2d 8, ¶ 23.  The 
dispositive issue here is whether the board of elections abused its discretion or 
clearly disregarded applicable law by rejecting Tremmel’s application to register 
to vote in Kelleys Island, Erie County. 
{¶ 16} In his brief, Tremmel states that although he had been registered in 
Erie County, that registration had been cancelled by the board of elections and 
that this action does not pertain to that prior cancellation.  At the hearing, 
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Tremmel stated that the board had previously determined that he was not a 
resident of Kelleys Island, Erie County in a challenge proceeding heard by the 
board of elections.  Under R.C. 3503.24, a proceeding to correct a precinct 
registration list or to challenge a registered elector’s right to vote must result in a 
hearing resembling a judicial trial when the board cannot decide the matter solely 
on its records.  The hearing therefore constitutes a quasi-judicial proceeding.  Res 
judicata thus barred Tremmel from relitigating the residency issue, absent 
changed circumstances.  See State ex rel. Schachter v. Ohio Pub. Emps. 
Retirement Bd., 121 Ohio St.3d 526, 2009-Ohio-1704, 905 N.E.2d 1210, ¶ 29 
(“Res judicata, whether claim preclusion or issue preclusion, applies to quasi-
judicial administrative proceedings”).  At the hearing before the board of 
elections, Tremmel admitted that there were no changed circumstances since the 
board last determined that he was not a resident of Kelleys Island, Erie County, 
and was thus not qualified to vote there.  Cf. State ex rel. Van Auken v. Brown 
(1985), 20 Ohio St.3d 21, 20 OBR 137, 485 N.E.2d 248 (court granted a writ of 
mandamus to compel the Erie County Board of Elections to register a person as a 
voter in the Kelleys Island precinct of Erie County where, as here, the board of 
elections had initially determined in a challenge proceeding that the person was 
not a resident of Kelleys Island and cancelled her registration, but, unlike here, the 
person thereafter modified her residency status by living full-time on the island 
and submitting a new registration application to vote in Kelleys Island). 
{¶ 17} Significantly, Tremmel does not specifically challenge the board’s 
stated rationale for rejecting his registration application – that he had not 
established a change of circumstances from the last time that the board rejected 
his claim that Erie County is his residence.  Cf. State ex rel. Rose v. McGinty, 123 
Ohio St.3d 86, 2009-Ohio-4050, 914 N.E.2d 366, ¶ 2 (affirming judgment of 
court of appeals denying writs of procedendo and mandamus because appellant 
failed to challenge all of the independent reasons given by that court to deny the 
January Term, 2009 
7 
 
writs); Stewart v. Corrigan, 97 Ohio St.3d 80, 2002-Ohio-5316, 776 N.E.2d 103, 
¶ 4 (“even if the [appellate] court’s rationale on this ground was incorrect, its 
judgment denying the writ based on the grounds that Stewart does not contest on 
appeal was proper”). 
{¶ 18} Finally, we note that this case is markedly different from our recent 
decision in State ex rel. Husted v. Brunner, __ Ohio St.3d __, 2009-Ohio-5327, __ 
N.E.2d __, in which we granted a writ of mandamus to compel a board of 
elections to find that the relator was a Montgomery County resident for election 
purposes despite his leaving for Franklin County for the temporary purpose of 
serving as a state legislator.  In Husted, the relator was already a bona fide, 
registered elector residing in Montgomery County before he entered state service 
as a legislator in Franklin County.  The board here determined in previous 
proceedings, which Tremmel does not challenge, that he was never a bona fide 
resident of Kelleys Island.  This case involves Tremmel’s application to register 
to vote, rather than a cancellation of an existing registration.  There is thus 
sufficient evidence to establish here that the board of elections neither failed to 
accord proper weight to Tremmel’s intent, as shown by the evidence submitted, 
nor treated R.C. 3503.02(D) as the exclusive factor applicable to Tremmel.  Cf. 
Husted, __ Ohio St.3d __, 2009-Ohio-5327, __ N.E.2d __, ¶ 30-33. 
{¶ 19} Based on the foregoing, the bipartisan board of elections and its 
members did not abuse their discretion or clearly disregard applicable law by 
unanimously denying Tremmel’s application to register to vote in Erie County, 
and he is not entitled to the writ of mandamus. 
Conclusion 
{¶ 20} Because Tremmel has failed to establish his entitlement to the 
requested extraordinary relief, we deny the writs of mandamus and prohibition. 
Writs denied. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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MOYER, C.J., and LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’CONNOR, O’DONNELL, 
LANZINGER, and CUPP, JJ., concur. 
PFEIFER, J., dissents. 
_____________________ 
 
McTigue & McGinnis, L.L.C., Donald J. McTigue, Mark A. McGinnis, 
and J. Corey Colombo, for relator. 
 
Kevin J. Baxter, Erie County Prosecuting Attorney, Sandy J. Rubino, 
Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, and Trevor M. Hayberger, Assistant 
Prosecuting Attorney, for respondents. 
 
Richard Cordray, Attorney General, and Damian W. Sikora, Erick D. 
Gale, and Pearl M. Chin, Assistant Attorneys General, for amicus curiae Ohio 
Secretary of State. 
______________________