Supreme Court Says No To Ohio GOP

Posted by Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet at 9:00 AM on October 17, 2008.

The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the Ohio Secretary of State, Democrat Jennifer Brunner, in a dispute with the Ohio Republican Party over how county election boards can use an error-prone federal database to verify new voter registrations.

The impact of the ruling, issued Friday, could be significant -- not just in Ohio but also in Wisconsin where similar litigation is pending. At issue is whether "non-matches" of voter registration information on voter applications and the Social Security database can be used to disqualify voter registrations. Between January and September, Ohio had nearly 290,000 non-matches, according to Social Security Administration records.

The SSA issued a statement earlier this month warning states not to use the database as the sole basis for verifying voter registrations. However, Ohio Republicans have been among the loudest voices in the country saying that Democrats or their allies are saturating the system with phony registrations in an effort to win the presidency. They sued, seeking the list of all the "no-match" voters across state.

"What is the upshot of this ruling? It means that the Secretary need not provide the "no match" data to the county boards, and therefore the Ohio Republican Party won't be able to make its public information requests to get the data to raise voter challenges at the polls," said Rick Hasen, a law professor who runs one of the country's most influential election law blogs.

Earlier this week, the Ohio Republican Party said it would not pursue voter challenges based on this data, which raised eyebrows since litigation over that very issue worked its way up to the Supreme Court -- culminating in today's decision. The Ohio Secretary of State may now issue additional directives to county election boards on how to process any registrations that remain questionable.

UPDATE: Brunner's office just issued this statement:

"The United States Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner was correct in protecting an estimated 200,000 Ohioans from being disenfranchised in this historic election.

"Because of the Ohio Republican Party lawsuit, eligible Ohio voters could have been forced to use provisional ballots if a lower court’s divided decision stands.  Provisional ballots are not counted until 10 days after Election Day and are subject to partisan wrangling and legal fights.

"Our nation’s highest court has protected the voting rights of all Ohioans, allowing our bipartisan elections officials to continue preparing for a successful November election. We filed this appeal to protect all Ohio voters from illegal challenges and barriers that unfairly silence the votes of some to the advantage of others," Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said.

"As Secretary Brunner noted on Thursday, she appealed a lower court ruling 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 federal government red tape, database matching errors and computer glitches," according to the Secretary.

"Now that the nation’s highest court has ruled in favor of Ohio voters, I encourage everyone to support the bipartisan system of elections administration in our state.  I ask all involved to stop the legal maneuvers that unnecessarily shake public confidence.  We will continue to work with our local election officials to successfully prepare for an unprecedented turnout and a fair election process," Secretary Brunner commented.

The McCain campaign just issued this statement:

"Today, McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis released the following statement in response to the United States Supreme Court regarding the case Ohio Republican Party v. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner:

"Today's decision by the United States Supreme Court does not address violations of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Rather, the Court ruled that Congress had likely not authorized private individuals or political parties to bring suit under the section of HAVA requiring voter registration verification through data-matching. It remains our belief that American citizens should be guaranteed that their legitimate votes are not wiped away by illegally cast ballots. What is no longer in question is the partisan nature of Jennifer Brunner's efforts to minimize the level of fairness and transparency in this election."

Tagged as: u.s. supreme court, ohio republican party, ohio secretary of state, voter registration databe, voter qualifications