Obama Campaign Responds to GOP Voter Suppression Lawsuit

Reacting to the GOP lawsuit against Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner for implementing the overlap period for in-person early voting and voter registration that they themselves created, the Ohio for Change campaign is calling on supporters to "reach out to your friends, family, and neighbors and ask them to help take back the political process for ordinary Americans, and stop the cynical politics of the past." Specifically, the campaign has set a goal of knocking on 118,602 doors this weekend, one more than Bush's margin of victory in 2004, and asks supporters to register for a canvass by clicking here.

Jeremy Byrd, General Election Director of the Ohio for Change Campaign, notes that he attended a meeting a few weeks ago of election attorneys from both political parties, convened by Jennifer Brunner and Attorney General Nancy Rogers in order to avoid costly, confusing litigation. The Ohio Republican Party's attorney in charge of the election and the McCain campaign's chief counsel were present but did not raise any issues or concerns about the election. Nevertheless, late last Friday the Republicans filed their lawsuit to limit in-person early voting, which Byrd calls "a blatant attempt to cut Buckeye voters out of the political process," recalling the machinations of Ken Blackwell. Plainly the GOP would rather litigate in the GOP-controlled Ohio Supreme Court than try to work things out amicably. "The stakes are too high in this election to let the same old partisan playbook stand in the way of your voices in Ohio," said Byrd about the lawsuit.

Now the 11th hour lawsuit against in-person absentee voting during the early-voting/registration overlap has been joined by another lawsuit engineered by the Republicans, this time complaining about Secretary Brunner's interpretation of voting law as applied to a poorly-designed absentee ballot application mailed to more than a million voters by the McCain campaign. The application includes a check box next to the the legally required statement "I am a qualified elector." Brunner opined that the request is legally deficient if the box is not checked, so the voter must be notified of the deficiency and provided with a new form. Once again, the GOP blames Brunner for a self-inflicted situation, having inserted the unnecessary check box on the form themselves.

In 2004 the Republicans controlled the Secretary of State's office, and Ken Blackwell created voter suppression, confusion, and distrust by issuing inconsistent and conflicting directives. Now that Blackwell is out of the picture, the GOP is running to the Ohio Supreme Court that it dominates in hopes of achieving much the same result.