For Immediate Release October 16, 2008
Secretary Brunner Appeals To US Supreme Court To Protect Ohioans’ Voting Rights
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has asked the United States Supreme Court to protect the voting
rights of an estimated 200,000 Ohioans. Because of a politically-motivated lawsuit, eligible Ohio voters could be forced
to use provisional ballots if a lower court’s divided decision stands.
“I have appealed 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 a database error,” Secretary Brunner
said.
Based on preliminary estimates, as many as 200,000 Ohio voters could be impacted by the Ohio Republican Party’s lawsuit
where the Secretary was denied the right to offer evidence but overturned for the failure to do it. The Secretary of
State was denied the opportunity to show that some voter’s mismatched information is making them simply victims of
database errors. These errors include data entry mistakes and unnecessary software code that have no impact on an
Ohioan's right to vote.
“This database was never intended to be a litmus test for an Ohioans’ right to vote. If it were, Joe the Plumber and
Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted – who are both technically ‘mismatches’ in this database – would have to use provisional
ballots on Election Day. Ohio’s bipartisan elections officials have multi-layered systems to catch voter registration
fraud and prevent illegal voting," Secretary Brunner noted.
The Ohio Republican Party originally filed suit just as Ohioans began absentee voting in 2008. However, Ohio’s statewide
voter registration database was created under the previous Secretary of State. It has been used in its current form in
every election since the 2006 general election, including the 2008 March primary. The Ohio GOP lawsuit was originally
filed because of poor wording in a technical voter database manual.
The Help America Vote Act was enacted to protect the voting rights of all Americans, not to deny eligible voters their
basic right to vote. Nothing in Ohio law permits the use of BMV information to determine voter eligibility. Instead,
Ohio law requires boards of elections to use an array of multi-layered systems to confirm every new or updated voter
registration. Even as she appeals to the Supreme Court to protect eligible voters from provisional balloting, Secretary
Brunner has continued to work with Ohio’s bipartisan boards of elections to craft a solution that makes HAVA mismatches
more easily accessible. She has stated that before rashly changing a system that has been functioning as required under
federal law, the Secretary of State's office needs the input and support of Ohio's bipartisan boards of elections to
craft a solution that meets important key metrics:
• Creates uniform processes for all 88 counties to properly utilize information about mismatches.
• Protects voters from purges based on a mismatch, because that is illegal.
• Protects boards from litigation by ensuring compliance with the NVRA, which does not allow systematic purges
within 90 days of a federal election.
Once this solution has been crafted, Secretary Brunner will implement an upgrade to the voter query system and will
issue instructions to guide counties in their use of this information.
ENDS