Ex-con and ex-Rep. Jim Traficant (D) didn’t collect enough valid petition signatures to get on the ballot as an Independent candidate in Ohio’s 17th district, local election officials ruled Tuesday.

Kelly Pallante, director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, said Traficant’s petition, which he submitted in early May, did not include the required number of valid signatures.

Traficant needed 2,199 valid signatures to be certified as an Independent on the November ballot. He submitted a petition with 3,138 signatures but the board found that only 2,092 of those were valid.

“Some of the signers aren’t in the 17th district, some people weren’t registered” to vote, Pallante explained.

Board of elections officials for four counties within the 17th district took part in the petition review process.

A Traficant spokeswoman told the Associated Press that Traficant would appeal the decision. If that proves unsuccessful, Ohio law sets Aug. 23 as the deadline for write-in candidates to file.

The district, which Rep. Tim Ryan (D) currently holds, includes much of the Mahoning Valley constituency that Traficant represented as a Democrat from 1985 until his expulsion from the House in 2002 on corruption charges.