High Court Rejects GOP Bid in Ohio Voting Dispute
The Associated Press
Friday, October 17, 2008; 11:58 AM
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court is siding with Ohio's top elections official in a dispute with the state Republican Party over voter registrations.
The justices on Friday overruled a federal appeals court that had ordered Ohio's top elections official to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, faced a deadline of Friday to set up a system to provide local officials with names of newly registered voters whose driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers on voter registration forms don't match records in other government databases.
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Ohio Republicans contended the information for counties would help prevent fraud. Brunner said the GOP is trying to disenfranchise voters.
This is HUGE because McCain was counting on being able to challenge hundreds of thousands of voters over minor inconsistencies in their voting records, and win Ohio through massive vote suppression like Bush did in 2004.
Without control of the Ohio Secretary of State's office, and without the help of friendly wing-nuts on the appellate courts like the 6th circuit, McCain is DOOMED in Ohio. Obama's get out the vote effort will swamp him if new voters are allowed to vote and their votes are counted. So, this ruling is just a death blow to the McCain campaign!
Washington Post is Reporting this! We don't yet have a copy of the opinion or extended commentary, but this is a major setback for Ohio Republicans and indeed Republicans across the country who are demanding ways to challenge alleged Democratic "vote fraud!"
In short this won't help Republicans steal the election!
I'll edit this diary to publish updates!
With a tip of the hat to Tom P!:
This ruling was by the entire court, the matter does not appear set for a hearing on permanent orders. The failure to obtain a TRO means that the Republican plaintiffs failed to meet the burden of establishing a likelihood of injury if their request isn't granted.
It's pretty much a death sentence for the wing-nut fraud squad if this stands up, because it means that the high court has considered and rejected their complaints.
I don't think their efforts would have been decisive in any case, but it does make for a more orderly election, more free from screaming hissy fits from Wing-nuttia and their media allies.
It's hard to argue that the Roberts court is making a "biased liberal ruling" or something.
Supreme Court Rules With Ohio Secretary of State on Voter Fraud Rules
The U.S. Supreme Court rules with Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, granting her a stay to a temporary restraining order from a federal appeals court that ordered her to provide a system for implementing voter fraud prevention methods.
FOXNews.com
Friday, October 17, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Democratic Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, granting her a stay on Friday to a temporary restraining order from the 6th Circuit Court that ordered her to provide a system for implementing voter fraud prevention methods.
The decision by the full court repudiates the lower court's ruling siding with the Ohio Republican Party and ordering Brunner to verify records of about 200,000 of 666,000 new voters this year whose driver's license and Social Security records don't match information in other government databases.
Hedging her bets, Brunner filed a motion late Thursday night asking the federal appeals court to extend or modify an earlier order to come up with a system to help counties verify voter eligibility.
Circuit Court Judge George Smith set the completion time for Brunner to come up with a method for validating mismatched voter registration data at midnight Saturday. Brunner, who filed a request for a stay of the order with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, asked for a two-week extension so she could be compliant if the high court didn't see her way.
The Ohio Republican Party filed the initial suit challenging the state's compliance with the Help America Vote Act, alleging that the state has no system to deal with mismatched voter records.
On Tuesday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sided with the GOP. Brunner responded with an appeal to the high court.
In its reply brief to the Supreme Court, the Ohio GOP said if Brunner needed relief from the temporary restraining order then she should seek it from Smith, who issued the ruling.