GOP, Brunner spar over voter data

Mark Niquette

Oct. 9, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Ohio Republicans accuse Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner of not doing enough to match new voter-registration information with existing state and federal records.

But the Social Security Administration complains that she's doing too much.

It's all part of the federal court fight in the latest dispute about voting in battleground Ohio.

At issue is what happens after new voters register. They provide their name, address, date of birth and either their driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. The information then is entered into a database.

Under the federal Help America Vote Act and state law, that information must be matched for accuracy by computer against records maintained by the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the U.S. Social Security Administration.

The state database automatically checks the BMV database to confirm the data. If it doesn't match, Social Security Administration records are checked, and discrepancies are reported.

The Ohio Republican Party argues in its federal court case against Brunner that she is not matching the data, and that information about mismatches should be given to counties to investigate and weed out any voter fraud.

But Brunner said that had the GOP asked, it would have been told that the matching is being done. Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue even sent Brunner a letter last Friday questioning the amount of matching.

Astrue wrote that since Oct. 1 of last year, Ohio has made more than 740,000 requests for verification of information, more than would be expected based on the state's size.

A spokesman for Brunner's office said a review is being conducted but noted there have been nearly 666,000 new registrations since Jan. 1, pushing Ohio's voter rolls to a record 8.2 million.

Still, questions remain about what should be done with any mismatches.

Republicans have asked U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith to order Brunner to provide the list of mismatches so they can be resolved before the Nov. 4 election.

But Brunner argued in her response filed yesterday that the request is unnecessary, that counties already have access to mismatches and a court order would create only more confusion and doubts about the system.

She also has raised the possibility that Republicans could use the list for wholesale challenges of voters before the election to discourage voting, which Republicans deny.

Opponents of matching data to verify voter eligibility say it's flawed because typos, transposed names and other mistakes account for most mismatches. Republicans say they only want to prevent voter fraud.

mniquette@dispatch.com

Newstex ID: KRTB-0147-28634162