Constitutional Law

Ohio Challenges Court Ruling On Voter Registrations

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is fighting a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that ordered her to take additional action to verify new voter registrations. The 6th Circuit ruling, issued earlier this week, was spurred by a lawsuit lodged by the Ohio Republican Party asserting that thousands of new voter registrations were improperly filed. Brunner has contended that the system Ohio has in place to check voter registrations is in compliance with federal law. Late yesterday, the Ohio attorney general filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to block the 6th Circuit’s ruling in Ohio Republican Party v. Brunner. In a statement today on the appeal to the high court, Brunner said hundreds of thousands of Ohioans could be barred from voting if the 6th Circuit’s ruling is allowed to stand. “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 database error,” Brunner said.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on October 16, 2008 (boomark / email).