First diary and I'm glad it's very good news to report. We all know about the Republican vote-suppressing efforts that helped Bush defeat Kerry in 2004 under the evil GOP Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.
Ohio Sec. of State Jennifer Brunner won her second court victory over Republicans in two days on Wednesday when the state Supreme Court threw out a challenge to a Brunner ruling in which she rejected thousands of GOP-based absentee ballot applications because they were incomplete. The court rejected the Republicans appeal because of technical reasons -- they filed the suit too late -- but a win is a win, right?
More details below the fold.
The Tuesday decision in a state court followed a Monday ruling in a federal appeals court that upheld the ability of Ohio voters to register and vote on the same day.
In Tuesday's decision, as reported by the AP, Brunner was merely following state election law, although Republicans had the temerity to claim she was playing politics. That could become the new definition of chutzpah.
You see John McCain's campaign had sent out thousands of absentee ballot applications to Republican voters. The application contained a box voters had to check swearing they were a "qualified elector" under state law. Unfortunately for the hapless McCain campaign, thousands of people returned the application without checking the box.
Brunner properly told the various boards of election around the state to throw out any applications without a checked box. Not only that but Republicans rejected her offer to help voters with their applications.
Now it gets good. The party of the corrupt Blackwell cried that Brunner was playing politics! Now who would try and keep legitimately registered people from voting? Surely not Ohio Republicans! Well, the GOP sued arguing that ALL applications -- boxes checked or unchecked -- should be accepted.
Coincidentally, a GOP consultant was subpoenaed last week in connection with a civil suit being brought against Blackwell for vote fraud over hisalleged voter suppression efforts.
Not that Brunner acted for political reasons -- after all she has just been consistently following the law.(It's not as if she's allowing Democratic applications with unchecked boxes.) But if Brunner ever runs for higher office, she will get a nice fat check from me. She is a true American hero.