Ohio's new Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, promised to restore trust in Ohio's elections. Having made many constructive changes in her few short weeks in office, last week, in a dramatic move, she has decided to clean house at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
Prompted by the many scandals and irregularities that have marked that county's elections, especially the recent conviction of two Cuyahoga County election workers and their sentencing to 18 months in prison for rigging a recount in 2004, Brunner took the bold move last week of asking for the resignation of the two Democrats and two Republicans on the Cuyahoga Board of Elections.
As of today, the two Democrats have resigned, but the two Republicans, Sally Florkiewicz, and Robert Bennett (who acts as the BOE chair, while at the same time serving as chair of the Ohio Republican Party) have resisted. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Bennett blames the voting machine vendor for the problems in 2006, and says that County Prosecutor, William Mason, was at fault for the 2004 problems, claiming Mason knew about procedural problems and did not correct them. It has been reported that Mason has asked for an investigation of Cuyahoga BOE's conduct in the 2004 election.
Unless both Republicans also resign, a hearing will go forward April 2 in Cleveland, where issues from an 18 page complaint that Brunner has filed will be heard. With evidence of fraud in the 2004 election growing, and with Cuyahoga County at the center of controversy, Brunner is confident she has the basis to fire the remaining BOE members.
As the case for a stolen 2004 Ohio election builds, and the phony case of widespread "voter fraud," (the Republican's justification to legalize voter suppression) is revealed as bogus by the fired U. S. Attorneys, who ultimately will be held accountable? I have a suspicion that the two election workers who are looking at jail time are just the bottom of the barrel, and there are a lot of rotten apples at the top who are still molding. Jennifer Brunner is doing the right thing to throw out all the bad apples.
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