Someone just tell me why verifying voter registration applications before an election is such an unreasonable demand. Then tell Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who has filed an appeal to the US Supreme Court to block an Appellate Court ruling that she do precisely that.
Ohio’s top elections chief has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a dispute over whether the state is required to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility, a spokesman for her office said Thursday.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, filed an appeal the high court late Wednesday, said spokesman Jeff Ortega.
On Tuesday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sided with the Ohio Republican Party and ordered Brunner to set up a system that provides names of newly registered voters whose driver’s license numbers or Social Security numbers don’t match records in other government databases.
The GOP contends the information for counties will help prevent fraud.
At least 200,000 newly registered voters have mismatched data, according to an initial review by Brunner’s office.
Brunner’s office said Wednesday that she would comply with the lower court’s ruling. Ortega said the office would release a statement later Thursday on why she chose to file an appeal.
Brunner has called the issue a veiled attempt at disenfranchising voters and said other checks exist to help determine eligibility.
