Prosecutor seeks information on registered voters

The records won’t include any personal information.

COLUMBUS (AP) — A county prosecutor who also serves as John McCain’s southwest Ohio campaign chairman has requested personal information for some individuals who registered and immediately cast a ballot during a weeklong period that ended earlier this month.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters issued a subpoena Friday for complete registration records for roughly 40 percent of the 671 voters who registered and cast a ballot between Sept. 30, when early voting began, and Oct. 6, the deadline for voter registration.

The subpoena, obtained by The Associated Press, is part of a grand jury investigation initiated by Deters in the county, which is Ohio’s third-largest and is home to Cincinnati.

“We’ve had widespread complaints of fraud, but we do not discuss investigations at all,” said Deters. He said the complaints came from “a variety of sources.”

It was unclear why the subpoena — which also calls upon the county’s elections director and deputy director to testify before the grand jury — doesn’t ask for records of all voters from the weeklong window.

Under a public records request, the Ohio GOP has asked for records of all voters who cast a ballot during the window in all 88 Ohio counties — but those records won’t include personal information because the request doesn’t carry the power of a subpoena.

The records handed over as a result of Deters’ subpoena would be unredacted.

Ohioans voting early have to provide either their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.

Ohio Republicans have initiated numerous court fights, arguing that Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner isn’t doing enough to prevent voting fraud. Democrats have accused Republicans of going on “fishing expeditions” that would have the effect of suppressing turnout in a year in which Democratic enthusiasm is running high.

The state and its 20 electoral votes is considered a must-win for McCain, the Republican presidential nominee. Polls show McCain and Democrat Barack Obama running even in Ohio.

“Although Mr. Deters filed this in his capacity as Hamilton County prosecuting attorney and not as an official of our campaign, we remain concerned by the federal investigations and numerous accusations surrounding ACORN’s questionable voter registration activities,” said McCain-Palin spokesman Paul Lindsay.

A message seeking comment was left with Obama spokesman Isaac Baker on Saturday.

The fraud allegations that led to the Hamilton County grand jury investigation did not come from local election officials, said county elections board Deputy Director John Williams.

Brunner has ordered counties to immediately investigate any claims of fraud and report the findings to county prosecutors and to her office.

“This office is unaware of any specific allegations of illegal voting out of that county,” said Brunner spokesman Jeff Ortega.

Williams said his office has received numerous calls from concerned citizens about the potential for voter fraud and has heard anecdotal reports.

“There’s a lot of energy out there on this issue,” Williams said. “It’s not something that we’re focusing on in terms of any investigation here.”

He said the county, like other counties, has received false registrations from the group ACORN, or Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, but believes that isn’t connected to what Deters is investigating.

Williams said he doesn’t know what spurred the investigation.

Ohio State University law professor Dan Tokaji, an elections expert, said the action by Deters is troubling.

“This is extremely worrisome when a partisan official engages in conduct that could reasonably be interpreted as voter intimidation and voter suppression,” Tokaji said. “This appears to be part of a concerted strategy on the part of some elements of the Republican Party to exaggerate voting fraud in an effort to suppress participation.”