(Columbus) - Nearly six months after the 2008 presidential election, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner continues to defy legal requirements to provide a reliable system of validating voter registration records, and her office has denied repeated public records requests seeking the information.
"She's had plenty of opportunities to fix the system in the last five months, and she's done nothing but stonewall every attempt at reform," said Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine.
Two courts and ten judges found Brunner in violation of federal law for failing to provide a system of verifying registration data. According to The Columbus Dispatch, Brunner's office conceded that "the eligibility of nearly one third of newly registered voters is in question" and that as many as 200,000 registrations contained mismatched information.
Appeals Court Judge Richard Allen Griffin wrote that Brunner's "lack of concern for the integrity of the elections process is astounding and deeply disturbing."
"Ohioans go to the polls again in less than two weeks, and she's done nothing to address the fundamental concerns about registration and voting in the last election," said DeWine. "Unfortunately, the only thing she's done in the last six months is run a U.S. Senate campaign and waste tax dollars on a couple of gimmicky election summits designed to validate her partisan agenda. We're no closer to fixing the problems."
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For the Record
Columbus Dispatch Editorial: Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner made a serious blunder by failing to give county elections boards the names of new voters whose registration records don't match state and federal data. ... In addition to discrediting herself, Brunner's attempt to withhold the data undermines the integrity of the election system. ... Brunner campaigned for office by promising to restore trust in the election system and in the secretary of state's office, but once again she is doing the opposite. (The Columbus Dispatch, 10/12/08)
Cincinnati Enquirer Editorial: For Brunner to claim that providing those lists to double-check the 200,000 registrants is the same as attempting to disenfranchise them is absurd. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 10/18/08)
Peter Bronson, Cincinnati Enquirer: The Sixth Circuit
court's 9-6 majority opinion had a pretty strong opinion about Brunner
and the way she has mangled Ohio's election. It said she offered
"no factual support for her arguments," and was "ear-splittingly
silent" in support for her claims that checking for fraud is too
difficult and interferes with the election. In fact, among
660,000 new registrations, Brunner found 200,000 that are suspect -
more than Ohio's 118,000-margin of victory for Bush in 2004. But she
refused to identify the mismatched registrations so local boards of
elections can investigate them before Nov. 4. (Cincinnati
Enquirer, 10/19/08)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
(Columbus) - Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine renewed a longstanding public records request on Thursday asking Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to disclose at least 200,000 questionable voter registration records. The request comes during Sunshine Week, a national initiative recognizing the importance of open government and freedom of information.
Brunner's office continues to stonewall formal appeals for the voter data more than five months after conceding, according to The Columbus Dispatch, that "the eligibility of nearly one third of newly registered voters is in question" and that as many as 200,000 registrations contained mismatched information.
Two courts and ten judges found Brunner in violation of federal law for failing to provide county elections officials with an adequate system of investigating the mismatched records. Appeals Court Judge Richard Allen Griffin wrote that Brunner's "lack of concern for the integrity of the elections process is astounding and deeply disturbing."
"Jennifer Brunner has used every possible excuse to avoid verifying these questionable registrations," said DeWine. "She continues to defy the law and erode public confidence in our elections, and Ohioans are right to wonder what she's trying to hide."
The Ohio Republican Party filed a public records request for the information on October 17, 2008, which was rejected by state attorneys who humorously claimed, despite multiple court admissions to the contrary, that "there are no records in the Secretary of State's office that are responsive to your request."
"Based on Jennifer Brunner's own court testimony there's no question these records exist," said DeWine. "It's been five months since the last election, and we have no choice but to pursue legal action if she continues to defy Ohio's public records law."
# # #
For the Record
Columbus Dispatch Editorial: Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner made a serious blunder by failing to give county elections boards the names of new voters whose registration records don't match state and federal data. ... In addition to discrediting herself, Brunner's attempt to withhold the data undermines the integrity of the election system. ... Brunner campaigned for office by promising to restore trust in the election system and in the secretary of state's office, but once again she is doing the opposite. (The Columbus Dispatch, 10/12/08)
Cincinnati Enquirer Editorial: For Brunner to claim that providing those lists to double-check the 200,000 registrants is the same as attempting to disenfranchise them is absurd. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 10/18/08)
Peter Bronson, Cincinnati Enquirer: The Sixth Circuit court's 9-6 majority opinion had a pretty strong opinion about Brunner and the way she has mangled Ohio's election. It said she offered "no factual support for her arguments," and was "ear-splittingly silent" in support for her claims that checking for fraud is too difficult and interferes with the election. In fact, among 660,000 new registrations, Brunner found 200,000 that are suspect - more than Ohio's 118,000-margin of victory for Bush in 2004. But she refused to identify the mismatched registrations so local boards of elections can investigate them before Nov. 4. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 10/19/08)