Supreme Court rules against Ohio Republicans in ‘voter fraud’ case.
By on Oct 17th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Supreme Court rules against Ohio Republicans in ‘voter fraud’ case.
Earlier this week, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Ohio Republicans in ruling that the Secretary of State must “establish a system of verification that would match driver’s license numbers or Social Security numbers with new voter applications.” Today, the Supreme Court reversed the ruling, saying the lower courts were wrong to get involved in the issue. Watch an MNSBC report:
Had the Republicans prevailed, about 200,000 new voters whose registrations don’t match state files exactly could have been forced to cast rarely-counted provisional ballots.
Update McCain campaign manager Rick Davis objected to the Court's ruling, telling reporters on a conference call, "Do we really want to have to find out after the fact that we had counties that would have been decided one way or another because the secretary of state didn't bother doing the job the HAVA [Help America Vote Act] required? ... I think the secretary of state ought to do her job."
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If the MSM is going to call the Sec of State for Ohio the “Democratic Elections Cheif” can they go ahead and call the FBI/DOJ the “Republican Law Enforcer”
October 17th, 2008 at 12:34 pmHow long before the McCain campaign starts screaming about the activist judges on the Supreme Court?
October 17th, 2008 at 12:39 pm1st name to be purged: “Joe the Plumber”
October 17th, 2008 at 12:40 pmThose crazy activist judges…Ooops. Sorry McBush and the slimy GOPee, you LOSE again.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:44 pmVoter fraud has been proven to not be the problem. Voter disenfranchisement on the other hand has probably swayed the last two elections to the loser.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:44 pmThe Courts and Law Enforcement agencies need to devote a lot more attention to the multiple, nationwide Republican Voter Fraud efforts, and stop listening to the “boys who cry wolf” in the GOP. Every time gopers cry fraud, it’s an indication they’re in the midst of commtting some.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:45 pmON NO!
THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IS NOW PART OF THE MSM AND BILL AYERS CONSPIRACY TO ELECT BARACK OBAMA!
When, oh when, will this end?
[Sob, sob]
*This is a paid announcement on behalf of all the McCain conspiracy theorists out there who report every day that “people are out to get them.” I post, so they don’t have to.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:50 pmNothing to do with nothing. But every time I see Pete Williams doing a story all I think about is his relationship with Cheney going back to the Pentagon and even before.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:51 pmThe little they are giving us with one hand they are probably going to take (and much much more) with the other hand. It isn’t time to sing happy days are here again, yet.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:56 pmcant see the video… anyone have a break down of how each justice ruled?
October 17th, 2008 at 1:11 pmthank goodness for that ruling. I hope this story gets it’s due in the press and there is proper juxtaposition with all vastly overemphasized BS about Acorn.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:14 pmhil_1
The Order is an unsigned per curiam opinion about two paragraphs long. No dissent is noted which means it was unanimous. Brunner only requested a stay. The Court blew away the (Republican) 6th Circuit decision in its entirety. This is a pretty emphatic sign by the Court that it doesn’t want to go back into the business of deciding elections this year.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:17 pmVoter fraud is BS. How many people are you going to get
October 17th, 2008 at 1:19 pmto try to pull off voting as someone else?
How long before we start hearing that the SCOTUS is in the tank for Obama?
October 17th, 2008 at 1:19 pmRe the Update
As an Ohio taxpayer I respectfully suggest that unless the McCain campaign, the RNC and the Ohio Republican Party wish to pay for the amount of work the clowns on the 6th Circuit ordered to be performed in the impossible time frame of three days, they and especially Rick Davis go F.U.C.K. themselves.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:35 pmI think it would be pretty hard to make an effective argument there …. although I guess that doesn’t mean someone won’t try. Isn’t there a post here about Rush Limbough turning on the Fox “All Stars?”
October 17th, 2008 at 1:36 pmIf this makes the McCain campaign unhappy, how do you think they feel about the FBIand the DOJ getting nervous about this so called national investigation? I betcha they’re crying in their cereal.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:36 pmUp yours, GOoPers!!
October 17th, 2008 at 1:53 pmThe importance of this reversal cannot be overemphasized. While it is simply a procedural matter, in which the Supreme Court essentially finds that the Republican Party of Ohio cannot establish standing in the case—and therefore has no right to bring the complaint—it establishes a precedent not only for the Circuit Court which overseas Ohio, but for the nation.
There can be no more cases brought to the Federal court system by parties without standing or a clear likelihood of establishing such standing. It’s as if the referees took the ball and said, ‘game over’ because one of the two teams was not a league member, and therefore could not participate in play.
Small technical checkmate, but a win for the good guys, nonetheless.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:05 pmThe next GOP talking point will be that results can’t be fully trusted, as there aren’t enough accurate voting machines, equipment, personnel and funding for the results to be taken legitimately.
In which case, the Repubs have no one but themselves to blame for refusing to fix these problems when they called all the shots in DC.
The GOP had no problems with underfunding and faulty equipment when they had a chance to remedy the issue, now that the party is looking at a very long exile in the political wilderness, they should be spared NO sympathy for being screwed by their own stupidity.
The Republicans whine about being “victims” of their own self-inflicted fiascoes, which makes their off-key caterwauling even more enjoyable when their BS bites their asses.
Remember,
Bad news for the GOP=GOOD News for the USA.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:15 pmwell there we go — a scotus decision for SarahP, that she can disagree with, to put on her list for that next big interview.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:20 pmThank you, SCOTUS. This throws out the GOP’s attempt to pad their screams of voter fraud when Obama wins.
You have NOTHING, GOOPERS. NOTHING.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:52 pmYou’d think Rick Davis would maybe respect the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States.
October 17th, 2008 at 3:02 pmWhy was the Secretary not following the law in the first place? She’s known the law since 2002, six years ago, and she’s caught with her pants down at the 9th hour? No one smells a rat in all this with her erratic behavior pertaining to questionable voter registrations? What’s wrong with allowing them to be verified? Why is Obama and his supporters afraid to follow normal election rules and procedures?
October 17th, 2008 at 3:12 pmYeah, I smell a big rat, the rethugs.
October 17th, 2008 at 3:32 pmOnly a right winger would support voter supression.
Is geena a new troll or an old one reincarnated for the 34th time?
tony and lido
As I read it, geena, Ohio has been following the law. They have been maintaining a data base as required. What the GOP was suing for was the unlawful exclusion of voters based on “questionable” registrations. Virtually all of those “questionable” registrations are cases where someone has moved, changed party affiliation, use two or more variations on their full name (When I sign my name, for instance, I include my middle initial but, I don’t include it when filling out forms that don’t ask for it.) or had their handwriting misinterpreted.
The opinion of the SCOTUS is that it’s unlawful to exclude a voter because of a minor discrepancy in a registration form. Especially since there are safeguards in place to prevent fraudulent votes at the polls.
Finally, unless I missed something, the Obama campaign had nothing to do with the dispute. The GOP raised the issue, were rebuked, and then forced the issue all the way to the SCOTUS. Then the SCOTUS ruled against them. The GOP attempt to disenfranchise voters has failed.
October 17th, 2008 at 3:41 pmBTW. If one is really concerned about voter fraud? This site has lot of info and their sources look legit.
October 17th, 2008 at 4:00 pmCrap! Here’s the link.
http://truthaboutfraud.org/
October 17th, 2008 at 4:00 pmgeena – why hasn’t the president been following the law since 2000, when he swore he would? – don’t you smell a rat? why can’t the president just play by the rules as they’re written?
if you’re going to go out and joust, you’d better get the horse, the armor, and the lance FIRST, geena – otherwise you just look silly and lose real quick.
October 17th, 2008 at 5:19 pm27 – nice al – you have a graph to interpret for that one, too? you’re quite the empiricist, i see.
October 17th, 2008 at 5:20 pm