Ohio secretary of state must verify registrations

[liberal N proud]

Source: Associated Press

CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered Ohio's top elections official to verify the identity of newly registered voters by matching them with other government documents.

U.S. District Judge George C. Smith in Columbus ruled that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must perform verification required by the Help America Vote Act. That includes matching new registrants' information against information in databases maintained by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration.

The order was the result of a lawsuit the Ohio Republican Party filed against Brunner, a Democrat.

"Plaintiffs assert, and the court agrees, that it is hard to imagine a public interest more compelling than safeguarding the legitimacy of the election of the president of the United States," Smith wrote in his ruling.

Brunner also was ordered to establish a process by which Ohio's 88 county election boards can access information generated by the checks.

<snip>
Republicans, who have been at odds frequently with Brunner, hailed the ruling.

"For some reason, Jennifer Brunner does not want these new registrations checked," said Ohio Republican Party Deputy Chairman Kevin DeWine. "Her refusal to comply with federal law raises serious concerns about her ability to objectively oversee this election."



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hUHafp1cxJ8ULtxqbf9fo0lw-pegD93NCBV00

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Republicans, Always trying to keep people from voting. WHY???? (Rhetorical question)

[truthisfreedom]

1. So, in retaliation, she has to hire 1000 workers to do this.

And use the rethug's retirement accounts to pay for it.

[WCGreen]

3. Actually, it's because of confusion in the new law requiring no purges

in the 90 days before a general election.

BOE's periodically purge voters who haven't voted for more than one presidential cycle. They do this in red states, blue states and purple states.

Having said that, I believe all of this is an orchestrated attempt by the GOP to cast doubt on the election. It's so obvious. They are going down like a torpedoed sub and will do anything to stop the free fall to oblivion.

[WCGreen]

2. A Reagen appointee who served as a judge for 4 years in Columbus

before being elevated to the US District Court.

This whole hullabaloo started in Ohio when McCain sent out those phony requests for absentee ballots.

[Enthusiast]

4. Imagine that, a Reagan appointee. nt

[radfringe]

5. Republicans, Always trying to keep people from voting. WHY???? (Rhetorical question)

Obvious answer :D

When people vote - repubs lose.

[liberal N proud]

8. Yep

[protect our future]

6. Uh huh. And if the name of a newly registered voter is not EXACTLY

IDENTICAL to that person's name on a document from the Dept. of Motor Vehicles or a document from the Social Security Administration, that person is PURGED and prevented from voting.

I'm talking about ... if you use a middle initial on your driver's license but not on your voter registration form, you are purged and cannot vote.

I'm talking about ... if your full name, including your middle name, is used on your Social Security card but you used only your middle initial when registering to vote, you are purged and cannot vote.

I've been told this is how it works. The GOP is targeting Ohio for some thievery even before the election. I'm sure they have some nasty plans for during the election and afterwords.

[Doremus]

7. We cannot vote without ID. I hope Jennifer appeals. n/t

[DallasNE]

9. What Data Are They Verifying?

Beyond Social Security Number and last name the matching becomes problematic with the sources at hand.

You can bet that this Judge is a Republican. Address information can best be verified by the Postal Service yet that is not one of the sources used. That would create too many matches. This ruling targets poor people that move more often. If Bush v. Gore criteria were applied this ruling would be reversed. Neither the ruling nor the law, if this Judge has properly quoted the law, makes sense because of obvious, glaring flaws.

[liberal N proud]

10. If your registration card does not match exactly...

If you left out your middle initial on the registration form or if you didn't dot the i in your name or address.
If your address on your DMV records don't match your voter Registration application is another thing they will try to nail people for.

Mostly it is a ploy to slow down the process and keep people off the voter roles. Republicans don't think everyone should vote.

[AngryOldDem]

11. Then there's this, from a highly Republican SW Ohio county

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/10/09/ddn100908greenevoting.html

<<COLUMBUS — Law enforcers in a southwest Ohio county rich with Democrat-leaning college students are seeking information on hundreds of people who registered to vote and cast ballots during the state's weeklong same-day voting window.

The window was the subject of an unsuccessful legal challenge by the Ohio Republican Party.

Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer, a Republican, requested registration cards and address change forms Thursday for all 302 people who took advantage of the window. He told elections officials he had been inundated with phone calls from people concerned about possible fraud.<<

_________________________________________________________________

Phone calls are the sole basis for Fischer's "concern." In addition, the attorney representing Fischer in this matter is a former law partner of Mike DeWine, who is the Ohio chair of the McCain campaign. All -- predictably and laughably -- deny that this is "politically motivated," and even the county deputy BOE says that the sheriff's worries are baseless. There are checks in place to ensure that people will not vote twice, while at school and at home.

This is so transparent that it cannot be dressed up and spun any other way: Greene County Republicans are scared shitless that their fiefdom may go Democratic in November.

EDITS; Spelling errors

[wvbygod]

12. Someone has to ask...

Why would we be against verifying the identity of newly registered voters?

Without it, what is to stop someone from registering in every district and voting
hundreds of times on election day?

[slackmaster]

15. I'm not against it

Without it, what is to stop someone from registering in every district and voting
hundreds of times on election day?

IMO everyone who believes in HONEST elections should embrace the idea of verifying registrations.

[QUALAR]

17. ILLEGAL VOTE

An illegal vote is referred to as an "Ann Coulter", but if you are a Republican the rule doesn't apply.

[SharonAnn]

19. Registrations areverified. People have to show an ID at registration or the first time they vote.

It's just that the "strict" matching causes many rejections, most of these will be new registrations, and most of these may be Democratic voters.

i.e. "Richard" instead of "Dick" but otherwise at the same address, same gender, same birthdate. John "Robert" Doe instead of John "R." Doe but otherwise identical.

[slackmaster]

20. "most of these may be Democratic voters"

At least you can see that there is at least a potential for this to cut both ways.

I'd like to see very strict verification of voters of all stripes. That would greatly reduce the chance of either side cheating, and remove opportunities for each side to sidetrack the process by accusing the other of cheating.

I see pots and kettles.

[SharonAnn]

18. They have to show ID in order to vote. They'd have to have an ID showing

residency in each of the districts they wanted to vote in.

However, for "matching" we accept the First and Last Name on Driver's license, and correct address, as matching a Voter's registration record that also includes the Middle Name. Minor differences like that have not usually prevented voting.

After all, there are even lots of "typos" when names are entered. My husband always has a hard time because his last name begins with "de" followed by a "space". Different systems include the space and sort accordingly. Other systems drop the space and sort accordingly.

This strict a matching procedure will prevent many new voters from voting, since long time voters would likely have had this problem fixed. New voters seem to be predominately Democrats. So it benefits Republicans by preventing a lot of Democrats from voting.

It's a typical Republican tactic and is one of the things they frequently do.

[Hestia]

21. Say the new voters have to vote on provisional ballots - which I think we should

highly encourage. It'll look awful funny that if say 50% of the ballots cast are on provisional ballots. Then we'd know for sure something is wrong with the system. Vote provisionally anyway and encourage everyone else to do so too. It'll be the high number of these ballots that'll make a difference.

[liberal N proud]

22. 9 out of 10 Provisional ballots never get counted

So you are just telling these people that they registered for NOTHING!

[daggahead]

13. We need to start asking republicans why they hate Americans. n/t

[Doctor_J]

14. One of the first thigns the Nazis did was pack the courts

so that all judicial decisions favored them. Reagan, Bush I and Bush II appointed activist judges are going to find the revolution very uncomfortable

[InkAddict]

16. What a farce--even my family is participating.

We were left "voluntarily" (not so much) homeless when our lease was up without the income necessary to re-new it. We have those horrible punitive measures weighing against our scores and pets, so quickly finding another "home" wasn't feasible. That was July.

Our kids offered us a temporary solution, but now they're kicking us out, not because they couldn't continue to offer shelter until we had saved up some dough from the spouses latest 3-month gig that may end tomorrow or in December, but because we cramp their style, their menu/nutrition style, their nudist tendencies, etc...(I'm suspected their entertainment style, as I've been told they want to throw a party for out-of-state friends next month, but can't offer them free lodging).

Well, anyway, the plan has been to get our Driver's License changed TOMORROW, so we'll have the proper photo ID so we can vote as per our registration. Anybody willing to bet the photo ID camera will be out-of-order?

Trouble is, they are kicking us out and want us to be gone ASAP November. Either we forego voting or we shell out around another $100, within the next 30 days, to have all our ID information appropriate. Do you think our daughter and SIL are trying to "rock the vote" of Mom & Dad?

This election is getting really, really expensive.

BTW, when does Ms. Bruner have to do the match-up because ours won't match until the DMV runs their update post-Saturday morning?

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

23. I just voted for Obama/Biden in OHIO

:toast:

[bemildred]

24. Ohio Elections Official: Judge's Ruling Spreading 'Chaos'

Ohio's top election official accused a federal judge Friday of injecting "disorder" into the presidential race by ordering her to purge the state's voter rolls of potentially fraudulent voters.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, complained that U.S. District Judge George C. Smith's ruling on Thursday "threatens to throw Ohio's entire statewide database ... into chaos."

"The district court's cavalier attempt to micromanage Ohio officials' administration of this election is breathtaking," wrote Brunner, the defendant in a lawsuit filed by the Ohio Republican Party, in an argument to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. "The court recklessly ordered the Secretary to reprogram her statewide computer database, with no understanding of the database's operation and even less regard for the disorder that its ill-informed order injects into the presidential election."

On Thursday, Smith issued a court order compelling Brunner to purge Ohio's voter rolls of fraudulent registrants or at least allow the state's 88 counties to individually purge their portions of the state's centralized voter registration database. Although Brunner has cross-checked the database against records from both the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Social Security Administration, Smith ruled that she stopped short of weeding out the mismatched names.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/10/ohio-elections-official-judges-ruling-spreading-chaos/

[bemildred]

25. Ohio sheriff drops request for voter information

A southwest Ohio sheriff on Friday withdrew his request for information on 300 voters who registered and cast ballots on the same day during a weeklong period.

Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer's move to request the information Thursday had been met with outrage by Democrats, and drew the opposition of the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of voting rights groups.

Fischer, a Republican, said he received concerns about possible voter fraud in the county, which has five colleges and universities, including two historically black colleges. Democrats said it was a blatant attempt at voter intimidation.

Fischer said the records request _ first reported Thursday by The Associated Press _ was no longer necessary because of a federal court decision requiring Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to match registration information with data from the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Social Security Administration. The decision also forces Brunner to come up with a system to alert counties to mismatches.

http://www.ohio.com/news/ap?articleID=909064