[Cite as State ex rel. Tremmel v. Erie Cty. Bd. of Elections, 123 Ohio St.3d 452, 2009-Ohio5773.] 

THE STATE EX REL. TREMMEL v. ERIE COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS ET AL. 

[Cite as State ex rel. Tremmel v. Erie Cty. Bd. of Elections, 

123 Ohio St.3d 452, 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 

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. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

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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. 

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 
January Term, 2009 

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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. 

{¶ 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 whether 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. 
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{¶ 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. 

{¶ 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, 123 Ohio St.3d 

1437, 2009-Ohio-5681, 915 N.E.2d 661. 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. 
January Term, 2009 

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{¶ 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 canceled by the board of elections and that 

this action does not pertain to that prior cancellation. At the hearing, 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 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

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(“Res judicata, whether claim preclusion or issue preclusion, applies to quasijudicial 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 canceled 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 

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, 123 Ohio St.3d 288, 2009-Ohio-5327, 

915 N.E.2d 1215, 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 
January Term, 2009 

7 

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, 123 Ohio St.3d 288, 2009-Ohio-5327, 915 N.E.2d 1215, ¶ 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. 

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. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

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 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. 

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