“Golden Week” ended October 6, 2008, in Ohio. And if Barack Obama wins Ohio narrowly in November, it may be because of what happened that week. It should also be a reminder of how messy our elections can be. John Fund has noted in the update to his book on election fraud, Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy
Golden Week ran from September 30 to October 6, when Ohio voters could register and vote on the same day. During this time, Democrats organized an extensive “get out the vote” (GOTV) effort. The Obama campaign sent an email to their national list urging supporters to call potential voters, referring to it as “our best shot in Ohio.” Three thousand voters cast votes in this period.
Details count for both election day and election days operations. And the details of Golden Week should raise questions about how election officials are running elections — and how outside groups are running their GOTV operations.
But first, a little history. In 2005, the Republican-controlled legislature passed, and the Republican governor signed, legislation that allowed for “no-fault absentee” voting in person, starting five weeks (35 days) before election day. From then on, Ohio voters would be able to vote at one location in each county. In 2006, early voting took place without a hiccup. In 2006, Democrat Jennifer Brunner was elected secretary of state.
Secretaries of state have real power. That’s why a group of progressives started the Secretary of State Project to elect more partisan Democratic secretaries of state. They targeted Ohio and supported Brunner. And Brunner delivered Golden Week.
The first thing she did was issue an advisory opinion allowing people to register and vote on the same day, during the “overlap” between the beginning of early voting (35 days out) and the end of registration (30 days out). This was a reversal of the 2006 precedent. Republicans asked how someone could register and vote on the same day when Ohio statute says that you have to be registered 30 days before voting. She answered that when you vote by no-fault absentee you aren’t voting. Your vote occurs on election day when it is counted, not on the day you cast it.
There is one problem with same-day registration and voting: the registration may not be valid, and if it is not, then the vote shouldn’t be counted. Consequently, Brunner recommended that ballots cast (but not “voted”) by same-day registrants must be cast on paper and be treated as provisional ballots until the registration is validated. Election Journal, a conservative website that documents election shennanigans, interviewed two people (in Lucas County and in Franklin County ) who registered and voted on electronic voting machines in violation of Ohio election rules. If those registrations are valid, nothing can be done to remove those cast votes.
The second thing she did was to issue an advisory opinion advising county election officials that Ohio law does not require that partisan election observers be allowed to observe registration and voting. This is contrary to the practice on election day and a reversal of the 2006 precedent. Two of the largest counties, Montgomery (containing Dayton) and Franklin (containing Columbus), did not allow Republican election observers to enter the polling place. Media, however, were allowed.
The Ohio GOP sued in federal and state court to stop the implementation of these advisories. They lost all cases. Brunner also tried to throw out absentee ballot applications sent out by the McCain campaign because the campaign added an extra check-box to the application. This time, the GOP won in court. Clearly Brunner was not protecting everyone’s right to vote. If that was her interest, she would have applied the same lax standards to the McCain campaign’s applications that she applies to absentee voting.
The consequences of Brunner’s changes are unclear. Shelby Holliday, a Columbus-based correspondent for Palestra, a national student news network, has been following the Columbus voting. She interviewed a voter, who voted for Obama because of his “thug thizzle” and who said that he had taken a bus from Chicago to vote. He stayed overnight at a homeless shelter and registered from that address. When she talked to him, he was waiting for a ride back to the Greyhound station. Ms. Holliday also reports on a variety of others problems.
With only a couple of anecdotes, three potentially illegitimate votes were identified out of approximately 3,000. In all probability, there are more, and we may yet find out how many questionable votes were irrevocably cast before election day.
Ultimately, the lesson is that unclear rules sorted out in courts prior to elections raise question about the legitimacy and integrity of our elections. If similar things occur in Missouri and Pennsylvania (which have long histories of election fraud), Wisconsin (where there are already indictments), Nevada (where ACORN offices were raided by state authorities for violations of election law), or Washington (which had problems in 2004 in its governor’s race), then this election may also be shrouded in illegitimacy.
That would not be good for our own self image or our reputation with other countries.
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