GOP Blames Brunner For Their Own Screw-Up

In the last Republican broadside against Jennifer Brunner (D), the Secretary of State was blamed for implementing a brief window for nearly simultaneous registration and in-person early voting that the GOP itself created via election legislation it pushed through the General Assembly in 2005. Now the Republicans are at it again, casting blame on Brunner over a problematic absentee ballot request form created by the McCain camp.

The form, mailed to a million Ohio voters, includes a box for a check mark next to the legally required statement "I am a qualified elector." They didn't have to do it that way -- the absentee ballot request form promulgated by the Secretary of State's office has the statement right above the signature line with no check box, so it is clear that the statement is ratified by the signature. But the GOP created a dilemma through their own action - what if the voter doesn't check the box? No check, no ratification. In that case the signature doesn't constitute a declaration by the voter (under penalty of election falsification) that the voter is qualified to vote. The request is therefore legally deficient.

Following the dictates of Ohio election law, Brunner has directed Boards of Election that if such a form is submitted without the necessary check the voter must be notified of the deficiency and provided with a new form, as explained by the Secretary of State in a statement:

Ohio law allows an absentee ballot application to be sent in a letter, on the Secretary of State's prescribed form, or in a form developed by a campaign. Unfortunately, if a campaign creates a confusing form that causes voters to leave off any of the required information, the law requires the form to be rejected. As standard policy, our office has instructed all boards of elections that they must notify voters when their absentee ballot applications are rejected for any reason and has advised that voters should also be sent new forms.

Brunner's solution to this problem of the GOP's own making is perfectly fair and logical, but that isn't stopping the Republicans from adding this incident to their bogus list of so-called partisan acts by their favorite Democratic target. But it's the GOP's check box, not Brunner's. If this should go on any lists, put it on the lists of Republican blunders and unfair attacks.