http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/30832484.html Attempts to probe new registrants jeopardize system
By Dennis J. Willard
Beacon Journal Columbus Bureau
Published on Saturday, Oct 11, 2008
COLUMBUS: Greene County, in Ohio's southwestern corner, is home to Xenia, the little Americana town that was devastated by a tornado in 1974 that killed 32 people, destroyed more than 300 homes and blew the roof and windows right off the county courthouse.
Last week, an ill wind of a different sort from a not-so-distant past blew into Greene County, carrying with it reminders of the nation's sorrowful history of racism, intimidation, voter suppression and a warning that we're not at that mountaintop yet.
If you have never visited bucolic Greene County, it is one of the most aesthetically pleasing landscapes in all the state, with winding roads, rolling hills and verdant farm fields.
It is fertile in another way as well. The mostly rural setting is home to five institutions of higher education, including Wilberforce University, the nation's oldest private African-American school founded before the Civil War, and 120-year-old Central State University, Ohio's only historically black public university.
No one knows at this point how many students from these two African-American schools are among the 300 adults in Greene County to take advantage of an early registration law in Ohio that allows someone to sign up and cast his or her ballot on the same day, but the local sheriff is bound and
determined to find out.
Greene Sheriff Gene Fischer decided last week that he had heard enough rumors regarding potential voter fraud, so he investigated.
Fischer, a Republican, went to the local elections board and asked for all the information on the roughly 300 recently registered voters.
These are public records, but Fischer wanted everything, including nonpublic information like Social Security and driver's license numbers.
If Fischer was launching a formal investigation, armed with some evidence of wrongdoing, he could have easily procured a subpoena for the complete records.
Instead, Fischer moved ahead buoyed only by hearsay, rumor and speculation — and the elections board properly denied the request for the nonpublic information.
This ill-conceived act is enough to raise questions about Fischer's understanding of the law and his sensitivity to ensuring that voters — especially African-American voters — feel secure and not threatened by exercising their fundamental rights, but his ineptitude did not occur in a vacuum.
With Ohio a key state in the presidential election, Republicans and Democrats are once again fighting over whether our elections system is sound or potentially subject to fraud.
So Fischer, as a Republican, immediately opened his party up to charges that his investigation was designed to intimidate voters and suppress turnout.
Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, an African-American who was one of the first elected officials in Ohio to support Democrat Barack Obama, said Fischer's actions were reminiscent of another notorious law-enforcement officer from the past: Bull Connor, who turned dogs and water hoses on African-American demonstrators in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963.
''Am I now going to be investigated because I exercised my right to vote?'' Coleman asked.
Republican ties
Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said it is easy for people who have never had their rights threatened to underestimate the depth of Fischer's attempt to scare young voters. And Redfern asked: Imagine what it would be like to have the local sheriff show up at your dorm room to ask questions.
Fischer is not the only Republican in Greene County to not think this effort through.
County Prosecutor Stephen Haller represented Fischer in his efforts to obtain the voter information. Haller is a former law partner of Mike DeWine, chairman of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign in Ohio.
Did Fischer or Haller, when they were preparing to make an unlawful request of public records based on phone calls and whispers, consider that their motives might be questioned?
Redfern also pointed out that Ohio Republican Party Deputy Chairman Kevin DeWine, a distant cousin of Mike DeWine, just happens to be from Greene County, too.
Kevin DeWine responded to Redfern and Coleman's charges Friday by pointing a finger to voter suppression efforts by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner instead of denying or refuting claims that Fischer was engaged in racism, intimidation or voter suppression.
By Friday afternoon, Fischer and Haller decided to just pull their public records request and bring a quick end to a short, but shameful moment in Ohio election history.
Dennis J. Willard can be reached at 614-224-1613 or dwillard@thebeaconjournal.com.
COLUMBUS: Greene County, in Ohio's southwestern corner, is home to Xenia, the little Americana town that was devastated by a tornado in 1974 that killed 32 people, destroyed more than 300 homes and blew the roof and windows right off the county courthouse.
Last week, an ill wind of a different sort from a not-so-distant past blew into Greene County, carrying with it reminders of the nation's sorrowful history of racism, intimidation, voter suppression and a warning that we're not at that mountaintop yet.
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