Ohio's newspapers, Republicans, and even Democratic Senate candidate Lee Fisher seem to have gotten this whole Ohio election law thing wrong. Allow me to correct the record.
Ok, folks. Enough is enough.
All week long, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has been taking a beating over two Directives she authored last week regarding voter registrations for the primary election and the so-called "loyalty oath" voters are required to sign before casting a ballot. Her attackers on this count are many, and include the usual suspects (Kevin DeWine, the Ohio GOP, and The Columbus Dispatch) and some not so usual suspects (The Akron Beacon-Journal and The Cleveland Plain Dealer).
Then came this attack today from Lee Fisher, which invokes Tea Party langauge about the "outrageous" loyalty requirement in Brunner's "disturbing decision."
As no one on Ohio's newspaper editorial boards or involved in the political process seems to have checked, I don't know, the law before flying off half-cocked, allow me to summarize (now with bullet points for those who don't like reading):
-Ohio's primary process is closed.
-In order to vote for candidate in a closed primary, one must choose a partisan ballot.
-Partisan ballots require a declaration of party.
Got that?
That's all that Brunner's Directives essentially say. Don't believe me? Read them yourself, here and here.
How did we get here?
Brunner was forced to issue these opinions in response to requests from county Boards of Elections, who are dealing with an influx of crossover voters requesting absentee ballots. To the uninitiated, a "crossover voter" is one who, in the last primary, voted for one party, and in this primary wishes to vote for the other. In order to make that change, the Board of Elections issues that voter a form, called a "Statement of Person Challenged as to Party Affiliation." Using that form, the voter declares their intent to switch parties, and can then vote in the primary for their newly selected party of choice.
The hub-bub here comes from two sources: the word "challenge," and the party affiliations of those switching over. The Republican Party, in its undying effort to paint Jennifer Brunner as a complete partisan hack, recently mailed voters (including some Democrats) voter registration forms for the Republican primary. Those voters with past histories as Democrats must, under Ohio law, declare their intent to swtich parties using the challenge form in order to vote in the Republican primary.
Republicans (and Lee Fisher, apparently) have subsequently painted Brunner's Directives, which only reinforce this longstanding piece of Ohio eleciton law, as forcing a "loyalty oath" on voters in a sad attempt to 1) surpress the Republican vote, and 2) prevent Democrats from switching parties.
The newspapers, never ones to let the facts get in the way of a sexy story (see, e.g., any and all news relating to Corey Haim or Sandra Bullock), bought it hook, line, and sinker.
To call the outrage over these Directives "manufactured" is far too generous to those spewing invective. While we can debate all day whether the laws establishing a closed primary and requiring a declaration of party are bad law (Secretary Brunner herself has implied as much), the fact remains that they are the law.
To impune Brunner's motives and character for simply fulfilling her duties to respond to requests from Boards of Elections and interpret Ohio's election code simply because the outcome exposes the warts of the current law is unconscionable. Her reading would warm the cockles of even a texualist like Justice Scalia, as the plain language of the statute says precisely what she says it does.
Ok. Glad I got that off my chest.
You may go about your day...
...except for you, Mr. Fisher. I think we need to have an "educational moment" as to the duties of Executive Branch officers in enforcing the law, and what it means to be a Democrat.
Bradley L. Cromes is a featured contributor to OhioDaily: Blue-Colored Blog, Blue-Collared State.