Judge Rules Ohio Sec. State Breaking Federal Voting Laws

In the wake of increased attention regarding ACORN and voter Fraud, a Federal Judge Ruled that Ohio Secretary of State Brunner was breaking federal law, by not allowing county election board to determine whether the new registered voters were fraudulent. Brunner has been doing her best to try to give Ohio to Obama with her rulings regarding the same day registration program and not allowing Republican monitors at early voting sites, etc. Read the details of the ruling below:

Brunner must check for voter fraud, judge rules

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is breaking federal law by not giving county elections boards the chance to determine whether new voter registrations are fraudulent, a federal judge ruled tonight.

It is hard to imagine a public interest more compelling than safeguarding the legitimacy of the election of the president of the United States,” said Judge George C. Smith of U.S. District Court in Columbus, in upholding the Ohio Republican Party’s request for a court order.

Smith, appointed by President Reagan, said the Help America Vote Act requires states not only to verify the identity of newly registered voters with the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the federal Social Security Administration, but to provide counties with the names of new voters whose records did not match.

Brunner’s office had been doing the verification but had not made the names available to county elections boards. The judge gave her a week to comply.
However, the judge said he lacked the authority to order the counties to clean up the voter rolls once they had the list.

Smith cited the “millions of qualified electors across the state of Ohio whose
confidence in the electoral process will be undermined if new voter registrations are not verified in accordance with HAVA, and if unqualified individuals are permitted to cast votes. This would demean the voting process and unlawfully dilute the votes of qualified voters.”

Brunner’s office said she is filing an immediate appeal with the 6th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals.

“My office will do everything within its power to ensure that the state’s 88 county boards of elections can continue to allow early voting to proceed uninterrupted and to assist them with their preparation to ensure a smooth election for the voters of Ohio,” she said in a statement.

Smith said speed is necessary because next Thursday is the deadline to challenge absentee voters; on Oct. 25 elections workers can remove ballots from envelopes that contain the only identifying information about who cast them.

He specifically cited questionable activity of one group that registered thousands of new Ohio voters: the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.

Ohio Republican Party Deputy Chairman Kevin DeWine said the ruling spoke volumes about Brunner, a Democrat.

“Her refusal to comply with federal law raises serious concerns about her ability to objectively oversee this election. It's especially troubling in light of her connection to ACORN and that group's stunning confession this week of fraudulent registration activity happening right here in Ohio,” he said.

Republicans say Democrat Barack Obama has “strong ties” to ACORN, serving in the past as an attorney and "leadership trainer" for the group.
Earlier in the day, national Republicans turned up the heat on allegations of voter-registration fraud by ACORN.

Sean Cairncross, chief counsel for the Republican National Committee, called ACORN a “quasi-criminal organization” in a conference call with reporters.