Ohio elections chief appeals court ruling
By Associated Press
COLUMBUS: 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.
Ohio Republicans issued a statement calling the situation a shameful
mess and criticized her for initially saying she would comply with the earlier court ruling. About 666,000 Ohioans have registered to vote since January, with many doing so before the contested Democratic presidential primary election between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton in March.
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