Ohio Secretary Of State Will Fight Republican Challenge

[mod mom]

Ohio Secretary Of State Will Fight Republican Challenge

October 16, 2008 01:49 PM


Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner told the Huffington Post on Thursday that she is ready not only to fight the state's current election law battle in front of the Supreme Court, but is also willing to wage a new fight, if necessary, to make sure hundreds of thousands of new voters are not "forced" onto provisional ballots on election day.

Spurred by revelations that the community organizing group ACORN has submitted many thousands of ineligible voter registration cards in battleground states, Ohio Republicans have been calling for a wholesale comparison of the state's nearly 666,000 new active voters against data collected by the local DMV.

Brunner charged that Republican demands are meant to create confusion at the polls and keep all the ballots from being counted.

Brunner says that, according to the League of Women Voters, there were only four instances of "illegal voting," or the actual casting of an illegitimate ballot, between 2002 and 2006 -- when just under 8 million ballots were cast. As such, she said, ACORN's registration problems are being improperly lumped in with the casting of bad ballots, something she says is not likely to occur no matter how many fraudulent registrations are turned in. "Unfortunately, despite the messaging of certain political parties ... when they bring ACORN into it, they're talking about false voter registration. Seldom does that lead to illegal voting. Mickey Mouse and Jive Turkey don't vote."

Brunner revealed this week that state data for approximately 200,000 of the new voters shows at least one discrepancy out of nearly two dozen categories that can be compared between the Secretary of State's office and the DMV.

(Indeed, even Ohio's Joe 'The Plumber' Wurzelbacher appears on voter registration rolls with a slight name misspelling, and thus would be subject to what a representative of the Brennan Center for Justice calls "disenfranchisement by typo.")

-snip

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/16/exclusive-ohio-secretary_n_135269.html

JENNIFER BRUNNER IS ONE IMPRESSIVE DEMOCRAT!

[Botany]

1. I loves me some Brunner

This is part of an e-mail exchange w/ her this AM.
I know her just a little bit and she is everything that
Ken Blackwell was not.

********************************************

Sec. of State J. Brunner,

Well, it seems that "the Good Old Boys" are trying to test you and your
commitment to make sure that everybody who has the right to vote and wants to vote
will be able to vote. All that crap about Acorn and those "bad forms" now seems like just a
cover story and that their real goal was voter suppression of democrats .... nothing more
and nothing less.

This is your time and I know you will pass this test w/ flying colors
and that those new voters will get to vote and that their votes will be counted.


all the best,
tom


Thanks, Tom. We'll get through all of this. Thanks for
your kindness and support.
Jennifer


******

Trust me Jennifer will make sure one way or another that
the new voters votes will vote and that their votes will be counted.

[mod mom]

4. She will be going places within the party. Very impressive!

Compare Ms Brunner to what the GOP has to offer :rofl:

[femrap]

5. I hope to see her as Governor

someday. Knowing she is SOS gives me peace...I truly no longer worry about Ohio's voting.

She is so intelligent and has the bravery to match. A class act! A true Leader.

[peace13]

2. We are so lucky to have her working on our behalf! n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

3. A standard-bearer and patriot.

[OHDEM]

6. I saw a news report about this earlier.

Bravo for Jennifer! I, too, feel our votes are safer with her in charge.

I think I'll send a note of gratitude to her office.

[mod mom]

7. SOS Brunner's PR:

MODS, I'm assuming that since this is a PR which the SOS wants out, I can post the entire PR:


For Immediate Release
October 16, 2008

SECRETARY BRUNNER APPEALS TO US SUPREME COURT TO PROTECT OHIOANS' VOTING RIGHTS

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has asked the United States Supreme Court to protect the voting rights of an estimated 200,000 Ohioans. Because of a politically-motivated lawsuit, eligible Ohio voters could be forced to use provisional ballots if a lower court's divided decision stands.

"I have appealed to the US Supreme Court because no eligible Ohio voter should be forced to use a provisional ballot, which is subject to partisan attacks and legal wrangling after Election Day. Ohioans who have followed the law and simply want to exercise their right to vote should not be penalized because of a database error," Secretary Brunner said.

Based on preliminary estimates, as many as 200,000 Ohio voters could be impacted by the Ohio Republican Party's lawsuit where the Secretary was denied the right to offer evidence but overturned for the failure to do it. The Secretary of State was denied the opportunity to show that some voter's mismatched information is making them simply victims of database errors. These errors include data entry mistakes and unnecessary software codes that have no impact on an Ohioan's right to vote.

"This database was never intended to be a litmus test for an Ohioans' right to vote. If it were, Joe the Plumber and Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted – who are both technically 'mismatches' in this database – would have to use provisional ballots on Election Day. Ohio's bipartisan elections officials have multi-layered systems to catch voter registration fraud and prevent illegal voting," Secretary Brunner noted.

The Ohio Republican Party originally filed suit just as Ohioans began absentee voting in 2008. However, Ohio's statewide voter registration database was created under the previous Secretary of State. It has been used in its current form in every election since the 2006 general election, including the 2008 March primary. The Ohio GOP lawsuit was originally filed because of poor wording in a technical voter database manual.

The Help America Vote Act was enacted to protect the voting rights of all Americans, not to deny eligible voters their basic right to vote. Nothing in Ohio law permits the use of BMV information to determine voter eligibility. Instead, Ohio law requires boards of elections to use an array of multi-layered systems to confirm every new or updated voter registration.

Even as she appeals to the Supreme Court to protect eligible voters from provisional balloting, Secretary Brunner has continued to work with Ohio's bipartisan boards of elections to craft a solution that makes HAVA mismatches more easily accessible. She has stated that before rashly changing a system that has been functioning as required under federal law, the Secretary of State's office needs the input and support of Ohio's bipartisan boards of elections to craft a solution that meets important key metrics:

Creates uniform processes for all 88 counties to properly utilize information about mismatches.
Protects voters from purges based on a mismatch, because that is illegal.
Protects boards from litigation by ensuring compliance with the NVRA, which does not allow systematic purges within 90 days of a federal election.
Once this solution has been crafted, Secretary Brunner will implement an upgrade to the voter query system and will issue instructions to guide counties in their use of this information.

- 30 -



Media Contacts:
Jeff Ortega, Assistant Director of Communications, Media, 614.466.0473
Kevin Kidder, Media Relations Coordinator, 614.995.2168

[BillORightsMan]

9. Brunner on WCPN 90.3 CLE OH

At WCPN Cleveland's Public Radio!
Major Supreme Court Ruling On Ohio Election

Audio included at link! Listen to new ORP head Kevin DeWine (son of DEFEATED FORMER OH SEN DEWINE) toward the end of the spot and how he spews the "voter fraud" BS.

GOOD ITEM!

:)

Nice to see ya, Mod Mom!
:hi:

:patriot:

[OnTheOtherHand]

8. SCOTUS sides with Brunner

We express no opinion on the question whether HAVA is being properly implemented. Respondents, however, are not sufficiently likely to prevail on the question whether Congress has authorized the District Court to enforce Section 303 in an action brought by a private litigant to justify the issuance of a TRO. See Gonzaga Univ. v. Doe, 536 U. S. 273, 283 (2002); Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U. S. 275, 286 (2001). We therefore grant the application for a stay and vacate the TRO.

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/08A332.pdf

Go figure.