High court rejects GOP bid in Ohio voting dispute

[Wretched Excess]

nothing on who dissented or their judicial reasoning yet . . .

High court rejects GOP bid in Ohio voting dispute

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is siding with Ohio's top elections official in a dispute with the state Republican Party over voter registrations.

The justices on Friday overruled a federal appeals court that had ordered Ohio's top elections official to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, faced a deadline of Friday to set up a system to provide local officials with names of newly registered voters whose driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers on voter registration forms don't match records in other government databases.

Ohio Republicans contended the information for counties would help prevent fraud. Brunner said the GOP is trying to disenfranchise voters.

Link

[NHSparky]

Anyone who is considering NOT voting for McCain--THIS is the kind of shit you can expect when Obama takes over.  If we can't change the makeup of the court, these are the kinds of decisions we can expect for another generation or more.

So go ahead, throw out that "protest" vote.  Stay at home.  Because your rights are just one 5-4 vote away from becoming ****ing useless.

[Wretched Excess]

Anyone who is considering NOT voting for McCain--THIS is the kind of shit you can expect when Obama takes over.  If we can't change the makeup of the court, these are the kinds of decisions we can expect for another generation or more.

So go ahead, throw out that "protest" vote.  Stay at home.  Because your rights are just one 5-4 vote away from becoming ****ing useless.

not knowing who dissented at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if conservative justices refused to get involved in this.

[DarkHalo]

In lib speak 'voter suppression' really means not allowing felons, illegal aliens, etc to vote in America.

[Wretched Excess]

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Democratic Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, granting her a stay on Friday to a temporary restraining order from the 6th Circuit Court that ordered her to provide a system for implementing voter fraud prevention methods.

The decision by the full court repudiates the lower court's ruling siding with the Ohio Republican Party and ordering Brunner to verify records of about 200,000 of 666,000 new voters this year whose driver's license and Social Security records don't match information in other government databases.

Hedging her bets, Brunner filed a motion late Thursday night asking the federal appeals court to extend or modify an earlier order to come up with a system to help counties verify voter eligibility.

Circuit Court Judge George Smith set the completion time for Brunner to come up with a method for validating mismatched voter registration data at midnight Saturday. Brunner, who filed a request for a stay of the order with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, asked for a two-week extension so she could be compliant if the high court didn't see her way.

The Ohio Republican Party filed the initial suit challenging the state's compliance with the Help America Vote Act, alleging that the state has no system to deal with mismatched voter records.

On Tuesday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sided with the GOP. Brunner responded with an appeal to the high court.

More

[Chris_]

"voter disenfranchisement" = fear of being caught for multiple voter registrations for the same person or placing votes for dead relatives.

[Splashdown]

Does this mean those "Questionable" registrations stand?

[Wretched Excess]

Does this mean those "Questionable" registrations stand?

GOP efforts to get them stricken from the rolls have failed, so, ultimately, yes.  the registrations stand.

[Miss Mia]

Supreme Court Ruling  (it's a pdf)

Cite as: 555 U. S. ____ (2008)
Per Curiam

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

No. 08A332

JENNIFER BRUNNER, OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE v. OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR STAY

[October 17, 2008]

PER CURIAM.

On October 9, 2008, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio entered a temporary re-straining order (TRO) directing Jennifer Brunner, the Ohio Secretary of State, to update Ohio’s Statewide VoterRegistration Database (SWVRD) to comply with Section303 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), 116 Stat. 1708, 42 U. S. C. §15483(a)(5)(B)(i).* The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit denied the Secretary’s motion to vacate the TRO. The Secretary has filed an application to stay the TRO with JUSTICE STEVENS as Circuit Justice for the Sixth Circuit, and he has referred the matter to the Court. The Secretary ar-gues both that the District Court had no jurisdiction to enter the TRO and that its ruling on the merits was erro-neous. We express no opinion on the question whether HAVA is being properly implemented.

Respondents, however, are not sufficiently likely to prevail on the question whether Congress has authorized the District Court to enforce Section 303 in an action brought by a private litigant to justify the issuance of a TRO. See Gonzaga Univ. v. Doe, 536 U. S. 273, 283 (2002); Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U. S. 275, 286 (2001). We therefore grant the application for a stay and vacate the TRO.
It is so ordered.


*Title 42 U. S. C. §15483(a)(5)(B)(i) (2000 ed., Supp. V) states, in relevant part:
“The chief State election official and the official responsible for the State motor vehicle authority of a State shall enter into an agreement to match information in the database of the statewide voter registration system with information in the database of the motor vehicle authority to the extent required to enable each such official to verify the accuracy of the information provided on applications for voter registration.”

[Wretched Excess]

"voter disenfranchisement" = fear of being caught for multiple voter registrations for the same person or placing votes for dead relatives.

the real voter disenfranchisement is the horrible dilution of the votes of legally registered voters.

[Wretched Excess]

Supreme Court Ruling  (it's a pdf)

translation :  "hot potato.  we ain't touchin' it".

[Airwolf]

Well Its good to know that our rights are being looked after when it comes to voters rights..................NOT.

[Wretched Excess]

Well Its good to know that our rights are being looked after when it comes to voters rights..................NOT.

our "rights", properly understood, are protections against intrusions by the federal government.  the ruling makes sense in that regard.

[rich_t]

translation :  "hot potato.  we ain't touchin' it".

Bingo.

[Wretched Excess]

we will lose this election.

[Lauri]

we will lose this election.

well, not necessarily.. maybe there are enough Ohio people who know what's going on to counteract this blatant cover up..

[TheSarge]

SCOTUS decides to protect fraudulent voting rights for people that don't exist?


Am I missing something here?

[Zeus]

not knowing who dissented at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if conservative justices refused to get involved in this.

Considering the fact Elections are a state issue it really wouldn't surprise me either.  Need some sharp federal prosecutor to bring RICO charges against ACORN & Company. With ACORN already cited & prosecuted for fraud in about a dozen states it shouldn't be too terribly difficult.

[Peter3_1]

rEJECTED BECAUASE THOSE bringing the suit had no standing. There was no judgement on the mertis.

[docstew]

who would have merits?  individual voters, as their legit votes would be cancelled by fraud?  would one guy be able to file that suit, or would it need to be a class action?

[Peter3_1]

Just guessing, but yes, the voters would have standing, as it is their vote that is being nullified by fraudulent registration.