Registration fraud won’t lead to illegal ballots, Cuyahoga officials say

Some Ohio counties are investigating suspicious registration cards from ACORN.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Election officials in swing state Ohio’s most populous county say proof of voter-registration fraud would not mean illegal ballots will be cast Nov. 4.

Members of both parties with the Cuyahoga County Elections Board say systems are in place to prevent fraud in the ballot booth.

Concerns about possible voter fraud arose in Ohio this year after a quirk in election law allowed people to briefly register to vote and immediately cast a ballot.

In addition, some counties say they’re investigating suspicious registration cards submitted by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, a national group that tries to register poor and middle-income voters.

Similar allegations have arisen against ACORN in other states this year and in 2004.

ACORN says it’s impossible to catch every problematic card. The group says it has safeguards in place to screen cards and fires workers caught cheating.

Cuyahoga elections workers found about 50 names on cards with irregularities involving people’s names, addresses and birthdays last month. That’s out of about 65,000 turned in by ACORN.

Cuyahoga officials say computer databases flag people who try to register multiple times, and Ohio voter identification laws exclude people from casting regular ballots when the board has not verified residency.

Republican Jeff Hastings, the Cuyahoga board chairman, is not alarmed by cards with problems. “It isn’t an issue of voting twice,” he said.

Board member Inajo Davis Chappell, a Democrat, said the fact that staff members caught the cards proves the board’s registration checks work.

The board subpoenaed four people to appear at a Monday meeting. The individuals’ names appeared numerous times on ACORN forms.

Rob Frost, chairman of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, said the potentially fraudulent registration cards do not jeopardize the fairness of the election.

“No, I don’t have fear because we have a handle on problems caused by ACORN,” said Frost, who is also the second Republican on the elections board.

Friday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner did not have to match voter registration information with data from the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Social Security Administration.

The ruling overturned a federal judge’s order that Brunner had to make the match and come up with a system to alert counties to mismatches.

On Thursday, the Greene County sheriff requested information on 300 voters who registered and cast ballots on the same day during a weeklong period.

Sheriff Gene Fischer said he received information about possible voter fraud. Voting groups and Democrats said it was voter intimidation in a county with five colleges and universities, including two historically black colleges. Fischer withdrew the request Friday.

Elections law expert Dan Tokaji, an Ohio State University law professor, supports the Cuyahoga board’s position that people who break voter registration laws aren’t likely to cast fraudulent ballots.

Tokaji said Ohio’s voter identification requirements are among the country’s strictest. All voters must show picture ID at the polls and cast provisional ballots if their address isn’t verified.

Across the country, ACORN cards have contained names of famous athletes, cartoon characters and other absurd names, such as Jive Turkey.

But that doesn’t translate to voter fraud, said Matt Damschroder, deputy director of the Franklin County Board of Elections. Damschroder, a Republican, was director in 2006 when the Franklin board investigated and unsuccessfully tried to prosecute people involved in a swath of suspicious ACORN-submitted cards.

“Jive Turkey has not gone to the polls to vote,” Damschroder said.