SCOOP LINK:
Chaos Campaign: Will Ohio GOP Block Voters at Polls in 2008?
Ohio's GOP says there will be no challenges of voters this year. But Democrats point to actions suggesting otherwise.
By Steven Rosenfeld, Alternet
Posted October 15
For full story see…
Ohio's Republican Party will not challenge the voter registrations of thousands of Ohioans before the 2008 election or
on Election Day, a party spokesman said Wednesday in a surprising statement on the eve of this year's deadline for
notifying Ohio's 88 county election boards of large-scale voter credential challenges.
"If you are asking if we are planning to do any challenges, the answer is no," said John McClelland, Ohio Republican
Party spokesman. "We are not planning to challenge."
McClelland's surprising comment was met with raised eyebrows by Democrats in Ohio, including by the Secretary of State's
office -- which has been sued by Ohio Republicans over numerous aspects of its management of the 2008 election.
"We don't have any official comment on that one," said Kevin Kidder, a spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer
Brunner, a Democrat.
Another staffer in Brunner's office pointed to an Associated Press report this week where the Ohio GOP asked election
officials in Licking County for a list of the people who registered and voted during a five-day early window this month,
suggesting that request was intended to challenge those voters' credentials. Only last week, a county prosecutor and
sheriff in southwest Ohio dropped a similar inquiry after civil rights lawyers told them they would be violating federal
laws designed to stop voter intimidation.
"This is the real story," Brunner spokesman Bryan Clark said.
The Columbus Dispatch also reported on Thursday that the Ohio Republican Party was seeking the names of all voters who
registered since September first, and all individuals who registered to vote and then cast ballots during a week-long
window earlier this month.
Brunner told the Dispatch that Republicans were trying to inject "chaos" into the election process as a strategy to
undermine voter turnout.
For full story see…