Cuyahoga Board of Elections May Prosecute Vote Jumpers
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is investigating whether any Republicans broke the law when they switched parties in the March 4 presidential primary, apparently to back a weaker opponent for GOP nominee-in-waiting John McCain.
The board expects the results of the investigation March 31.
The board wants to know if voters lied when they signed statements pledging allegiance to their
new party.
About 16,000 GOP voters crossed over to vote for Democrats in the primary.
It’s not clear whether the board will try to prosecute voters.
A 2-2 party-line tie by the board to pursue violators would have to be broken by Secretary of
State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat.
Brunner “has not been contacted by anyone regarding the prosecution of alleged improper ’crossover voting’,” spokesman Jeff Ortega said in an e-mail.
Any prosecutions in such cases would be up to local prosecutors or, if they decline to pursue it, the Ohio attorney general, Ortega said.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, a Democrat, said he hasn’t seen evidence of wrongdoing by switchers and was skeptical a criminal case could be made.
“If any evidence is presented to us, we’ll review it. It’s going to be very difficult if not impossible to make a case against a voter who has switched parties,” he said Thursday.
Bob Bennett, the Ohio Republican chairman, called the investigation “an embarrassment to the Democratic Party and an absolute irony that a party that claims to empower voters is now moving to prosecute them.” He said the investigation was a waste of time and money.
Sandy McNair, a Democrat and member of the county elections board, had sought the investigation to hold voters accountable for switching.
Last week The Plain Dealer, which reviewed voter records, said more than 16,000 Republicans in mostly Democratic Cuyahoga County changed parties before voting in the primary.
Some local Republicans told the paper that they had changed parties only to influence which Democrat would face McCain. One switcher, in signing the pledge to back the Democratic Party, added, “For one day only.”
That kind of comment could indicate a party switch was insincere, McNair said Thursday. The elections board review now under way involves a Democrat and Republican checking party change records for any similar anecdotal evidence, McNair said.
The board has a responsibility to look into possible criminal wrongdoing, he said.
Lying on the signed statement is a fifth-degree felony, punish able by six to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
The secretary of state’s office has no figures statewide on party switchers in the primary, but overall the number of voters surged more than 76 percent in the hotly contested Hillary Rodham Clinton-Barack Obama primary and 11 percent in the nearly decided GOP primary.
There were more than 2.2 million Democratic votes for president in the primary, up from 1.2 million in 2004, when the campaign for the nomination won by John Kerry lacked the drama of the Clinton-Obama competition.
The board expects the results of the investigation March 31.
The board wants to know if voters lied when they signed statements pledging allegiance to their
new party.
About 16,000 GOP voters crossed over to vote for Democrats in the primary.
It’s not clear whether the board will try to prosecute voters.
A 2-2 party-line tie by the board to pursue violators would have to be broken by Secretary of
State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat.
Brunner “has not been contacted by anyone regarding the prosecution of alleged improper ’crossover voting’,” spokesman Jeff Ortega said in an e-mail.
Any prosecutions in such cases would be up to local prosecutors or, if they decline to pursue it, the Ohio attorney general, Ortega said.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, a Democrat, said he hasn’t seen evidence of wrongdoing by switchers and was skeptical a criminal case could be made.
“If any evidence is presented to us, we’ll review it. It’s going to be very difficult if not impossible to make a case against a voter who has switched parties,” he said Thursday.
Bob Bennett, the Ohio Republican chairman, called the investigation “an embarrassment to the Democratic Party and an absolute irony that a party that claims to empower voters is now moving to prosecute them.” He said the investigation was a waste of time and money.
Sandy McNair, a Democrat and member of the county elections board, had sought the investigation to hold voters accountable for switching.
Last week The Plain Dealer, which reviewed voter records, said more than 16,000 Republicans in mostly Democratic Cuyahoga County changed parties before voting in the primary.
Some local Republicans told the paper that they had changed parties only to influence which Democrat would face McCain. One switcher, in signing the pledge to back the Democratic Party, added, “For one day only.”
That kind of comment could indicate a party switch was insincere, McNair said Thursday. The elections board review now under way involves a Democrat and Republican checking party change records for any similar anecdotal evidence, McNair said.
The board has a responsibility to look into possible criminal wrongdoing, he said.
Lying on the signed statement is a fifth-degree felony, punish able by six to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
The secretary of state’s office has no figures statewide on party switchers in the primary, but overall the number of voters surged more than 76 percent in the hotly contested Hillary Rodham Clinton-Barack Obama primary and 11 percent in the nearly decided GOP primary.
There were more than 2.2 million Democratic votes for president in the primary, up from 1.2 million in 2004, when the campaign for the nomination won by John Kerry lacked the drama of the Clinton-Obama competition.
Comments
Post a Comment