Paper finds inconsistency in crossover voting

In Mahoning County, crossover voters were challenged but given ballots even if they didn’t sign a pledge form.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Some Ohio counties challenged voters who switched parties when they voted in the state’s March 4 primary, while other counties challenged none, a newspaper review found.

The discrepancies show it’s time to review a century-old state law that outlines who can vote in party primaries, elections experts say.

More than 20,000 crossover voters in Cuyahoga County — the state’s largest county and a Democratic stronghold — were told by poll workers to sign statements pledging allegiance to their new party.

But a review by The Columbus Dispatch published Friday found Franklin County and other counties didn’t challenge any party switchers, while some counties only did so at the polls, but not if the voters used an absentee ballot.

In Mahoning County, which includes Youngstown, crossover voters were challenged but still got a ballot even if they wouldn’t sign the form. Other counties’ elections staffers instructed poll workers to challenge, but they believe the directive was not followed consistently.

Ohio has had a law since 1909 to discourage voters in primaries from interfering with a party selecting its general election candidates, said Don McTigue, a veteran elections lawyer.

It is the duty of the presiding judge at a polling site to challenge any voter who wants to switch parties, according to state law. The judge must have the voter sign a form saying they support the principles of a particular political party and desire to be affiliated with it.

Ohio’s elections chief, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, said it has been the office’s view for years that poll workers must challenge all crossover voters.

But Franklin County elections director Denny White said he was told the opposite by the county prosecutor’s office on March 4.

“There’s confusion right now, and we need one clear message from somebody so that all voters are treated equally,” White said.

Cuyahoga County’s elections board is investigating whether any Republicans lied on the statements, apparently in the interest of giving the likely Republican presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. John McCain, a weaker Democratic opponent for the fall.

Crossover voters could face a year in jail and a $2,500 fine for falsifying election forms, which is a felony.

But such prosecutions would be very difficult to carry out, experts told the newspaper.

Edward Foley, director of the election law program at Ohio State University, said having a law without enforcing it doesn’t make sense.

“I think the lesson to be learned is that in Ohio, we need to figure out which model we want and then adopt a model we feel we can enforce,” he said.

Eighteen states, including Michigan and Indiana, have open primaries in which voters of any affiliation can vote for the slate of any party, according to FairVote, a Maryland-based nonpartisan group that advocates for ways to decrease barriers to voting. Voters do not have to sign a pledge to a party in those states.

Another proposed change, introduced in the Legislature in 2000 by then-state Rep. James Trakas, would have required voters to declare their party affiliation before a primary, but would also have allowed independents to ask for any party’s ballot. The bill, which would have eliminated the need for Election Day challenges, went nowhere.

Others have argued that the state should encourage more people to vote by getting rid of many restrictions on primary voting.

“That’s where the Legislature has to take the pulse of the public,” said Brunner, who has said she doesn’t favor charges against the Cuyahoga party-switchers. “I don’t think we want to be putting the public in peril of criminal prosecution for exercising its First Amendment rights.”