Last week, they were everywhere.  They stood on the corners of streets, with tables full of Obama buttons and voter registration forms.  It was almost impossible to make it to a class without hearing, “Are you registered to vote?”  But behind the façade of cheery smiles and clipboards lurked something that few dare to acknowledge, something dangerous to our republic: voter fraud and suppression, enabled by a woman known as “the most partisan state official in Ohio”: Jennifer Brunner.

Brunner was elected Ohio’s Secretary of State in 2006, succeeding Republican Ken Blackwell, whom Democrats accused of rigging Ohio’s 2004 presidential election vote for Republicans.  The Secretary of State “oversees the elections process … supervises the administration of election laws … [and] investigates election fraud and irregularities.”  Unfortunately, Brunner has not done of any of these, and recently, she has actually done the opposite of her job description!

In June, she “discovered” that Ohio law provided for a one week window of early voting, in which voters were allowed to register and vote on the same day, bypassing the usual process of voter registration and verification.  Identification numbers entered on voter registrations are no longer verified, and Shawna Burton, director of the Pike County Board of Elections, said that this was “a statewide thing.”    

Brunner “advised” that early voting was not open to observers — private citizens who act as watchdogs for elections — and that observers should be turned away.  This would make the early voting that ended last Monday the only election in Ohio history that was not open to public scrutiny, by decree of Ohio’s Secretary of State.

Election fraudsters are already in Ohio.  Subversive group Association  of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), for which presidential candidate Barack Obama worked as a “community organizer,” is being investigated by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.  According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, ACORN workers “often handed in the same name on a number of voter registration cards, but showing that person living at different addresses.”  ACORN also turned in registrations that “showed a number of people living at an address that turned out to be a restaurant.”  Eleven voting investigations against ACORN are going on across the nation.  Recently, in Nevada, ACORN was busted for turning in fraudulent registrations, including “the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys.”  Say it ain’t so, Romo!

According to ACORN’s national voter registration director, Kimberly Olsen, voter registration efforts have been fruitful.  “We hit our goals early.”  When you turn in fraudulent voter registrations, it’s always easy to ‘hit your goals early!’

Last week, the Ohio Supreme Court overruled Brunner’s decree that at least 1 million Republican absentee ballot requests were invalid because of a checkbox on the form.  As the Cincinnati Enquirer said it, “Ohio law allows voters to request an absentee ballot on the back of a grocery sack if they want to.”  As Ohio GOP Communications Director John McClelland said in a phone interview, Brunner’s decree was “absolutely voter suppression.”

So let’s review.  Brunner’s job is to “supervise the administration of election laws,” but she invents new interpretations of the law.  Brunner’s job is to “investigate election fraud and irregularities,” yet she ignores organized voter fraud and enables it by turning away citizen observers.  

Two smart men both had interesting comments relevant to Brunner’s same-day registration scheme.  Joseph Stalin said, “Those who cast the votes, they decide nothing. Those who count the votes, they decide everything.”  Barack Obama said, “Well, I tell you what, it helps in Ohio that we’ve got Democrats in charge of the machines.”

Jesse Hathaway is a senior studying English. Send him an e-mail at jh309105@ohiou.edu.