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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2008 > November > 07 > Entry
Brunner: Election “free, fair, open and honest”
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat under fire from Republicans for her handling of the presidential election, says things turned out just fine at the polls.
She made the comments on Thursday, Nov. 6, in an e-mail from her campaign committee - she’s expected to seek re-election in 2010 - not from the secretary of state’s office.
Without naming her predecessor, she also criticized outgoing Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.
“With a dedicated and talented team, hard working boards of elections and the help of many others who care deeply about democracy, Ohio has turned the corner with a free, fair and honest presidential election in Ohio held just two days ago,” the e-mail said.
As for the 2004 election under Blackwell:
“Because of the chaos and confusion that abounded in Ohio’s 2004 election, the state was held up to criticism and even ridicule, causing many to lose faith in what should be a solidly fair and democratic process.”
The e-mail, of course, asked her supporters to “contribute.”
Kevin DeWine, deputy chairman of the Ohio Republican Party and a big-time Brunner critic, praised local boards of elections on Thursday, but had no praise for Brunner.
Here’s the full e-mail from Brunner.
“Four years ago, I was a state trial court judge who watched in dismay as my state was demonized around the world for the way we conducted our presidential election.
Ohio was in the unenviable position of being the state that put the reelection of the President over the top in electoral votes, and many questioned whether they could trust our process.
Because of the chaos and confusion that abounded in Ohio’s 2004 election, the state was held up to criticism and even ridicule, causing many to lose faith in what should be a solidly fair and democratic process.
It was then that I resolved I would leave the bench and run for the office of secretary of state to try to restore the confidence of Ohio voters and of the country in our election system.
The struggle has been great to change the infrastructure of voting in Ohio in less than 22 months.
With a dedicated and talented team, hard working boards of elections and the help of many others who care deeply about democracy, Ohio has turned the corner with a free, fair, open and honest presidential election in Ohio held just two days ago.
Tuesday night, we celebrated the election of a new president, and in Ohio, many celebrated the fact that they could vote easily and with confidence. The lines were short, backup paper ballots were available and poll workers were better trained with consistent rules and resources to ensure we worked to protect the rights of every voter.
As we proceed to process provisional and absentee ballots during the 10-day period following the election, we will be abiding by uniform procedures and conducting the first statewide post-election audit of our presidential results.
The support of many like you has helped make this possible for Ohio and for our country. We hope you’ll take a look at the reports on these many changes and celebrate with us a better tomorrow for our state and our country.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Brunner Ohio Secretary of State”
Comments
By Payday Loans Canada
May 1, 2009 1:53 AM | Link to this
I found lots of interesting information on www.daytondailynews.com. The post was professionally written and I feel like the author has extensive knowledge in the subject. www.daytondailynews.com keep it that way.
By null
November 7, 2008 3:25 PM | Link to this
I voted early by provisional ballot on Oct 24th in Clark Co, sure looked like 2 folks who were not registered to vote (deadline was Oct 6th to register) were told to “wait along the wall” and were not escorted out or told they could not vote. Very suspicious indeed and I happen to know of other incidences even more suspicious.
By chip
November 7, 2008 2:35 PM | Link to this
Brunner’s day’s in office are going to be short lived. What an ebarrassment to the State of Ohio, and the honest voters.
By chip
November 7, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this
Brunner’s day’s in office are going to be short lived. What an ebarrassment to the State of Ohio, and the honest voters.
By Mike
November 7, 2008 2:11 PM | Link to this
The counting of ballots twice was due to tallying discs for approximately 1200 ballots being accidentally fed through twice to the computer. The discrepancies were flagged and the count was corrected. The process which was in place worked……..And, once again for those who don’t get it, VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS FILLED OUT WITH BOGUS INFORMATION DOES NOT CREATE ONE FRAUDULENT VOTE. Someone still has to show up at the polling place, present a fake I.D. and actually show up on the voter roll. Once again, there is not one shred of evidence that incorrect voter registration forms has led to ANY widespread, or even rare, occurrences of actual vote fraud. You can bet that with the tsunami of lawyers for both sides sent out there to observe this election, if there was even the remotest shred of evidence that widespread voter fraud existed, there would a legal uproar like you have never seen. So put your tin-foil hats back in storage. Voter fraud is nothing but a political straw man created and used to scare people in an effort to discredit the winners.
By JerichoJenny
November 7, 2008 1:54 PM | Link to this
How can it be fair when the election records are so wrong? I ran into an ex-neighbor(moved 4 years ago)at the Moraine polls who had just voted. She said she lived in Miamisburg and had just voted to keep Moraine’s mayor in office.
By Bobby
November 7, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this
Remember before writing these libelous comments that have been posted. You can only attack her if you voted for Secretary of State in the last election; if you did not vote, your voice loses all sense of credibility. In addition, be sure you have all of the facts correct before typing your comments. A total disregard for facts is a sign of idiocy (stupidity). If you can post that Franklin County counted ballots twice (from a reputable source and not a trashy tabloid or blog) then it can be trusted but not before that. Rumors, believe it or not, do not count as facts. I personally feel that Secretary Brunner deserves our commendation for being able to handle an election of this magnitude and length and have it go as smoothly as it went.
By nObama
November 7, 2008 12:49 PM | Link to this
Time to translate Democrat speak into plain English… It was “a free, fair and honest presidential election in Ohio” = Our guy won therefore it must be right. “Because of the chaos and confusion that abounded in Ohio’s 2004 election, the state was held up to criticism and even ridicule” = The other guy won so it must be unfair.
By don
November 7, 2008 12:47 PM | Link to this
she is a real slime bucket
By Publicus
November 7, 2008 12:17 PM | Link to this
I don’t believe all the right-wing whining about Acorn and all, but Brunner’s words and actions here make her seem slimy.
By Jack
November 7, 2008 12:01 PM | Link to this
The beauty of the headline, “free, fair, open, honest”…is that two stories under, “Franklin County double votes.” You have to love incomptency. I do agree with someone below that said if McCain had won, it probably would not have bee seen as fair. The Sec. of State should not be a political position. Questions about fair and unfair should not have to be raised.
By Barry
November 7, 2008 11:55 AM | Link to this
Actually I think William was commenting on this article about some precincts having more votes then they had registered voters http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/gen/ap/OHVotesCounted_Twice.html
By Rob
November 7, 2008 11:37 AM | Link to this
If y’all are gonna make stuff up, make sure it’s not anything that can be so easily checked out as a lie. William claims “more ballots cast in some Franklin county locations than had residents”. Uh, no, wrong there perfesser. BTW anybody who wants to can go to the Franklin County BOE website and look at a spreadsheet showing each and every one of 823 reporting precincts and not a single one reported more votes than registrations, forget census. The county had 524,207 votes cast, or 62% of the 846,343 registrations. The county has a population of over 1,115,000.
By Nonna
November 7, 2008 11:37 AM | Link to this
There is a story on the DDN home page about some votes in Franklin Co. being counted twice. Bet you they were all Demorats ballots!
By Rob
November 7, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this
msum - Lord knows I feel a lot better about than four years ago. Remember the HBO documentary “Hacking Democracy”, where the Cuyahoga county “hacks” were exposed? And Secretary Blackwell did nothing? Was this year perfect? No. was it free, open, and honest? Yes. If you have evidence to the contrary - then you better swear out an affadavit and go to your local board of elections. You might not like Secretary Brunner, but you better get used to her. I hear the Repuiblicans are planning to run Husted against her next time, and that guy has some election related problems of his own.
By William
November 7, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this
With more ballots cast in some Franklin county locations than had residents and all the ACORN problems…yet she calls this a fair and free election…go figure. Would she have said that if McCain won? I doubt it.
By dpkdayton
November 7, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this
Sure it was fair, her guy won. I wonder if she would have said this if Obama has lost?
By msum835
November 7, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this
Brunner’s email is really a joke. There is no way intelligent, caring individuals could ever feel good about the way this election (in Ohio) was conducted. ACORN’s widely publicized and recognized vandalism of the process, their explicit complicity with Brunner, the ‘hidden 200,000 registrations, etc., etc., prevent reasonable people from trusting the process. Trusting the process is the primary responsibility of the Sec of State in an election. Brunner is a typical hack politician who dishonors the oath of her office and does not deserve the respect of the citizens of Ohio.
By Barry
November 7, 2008 10:27 AM | Link to this
“do you want to vote electric or paper?” the rest of the country knew the outcome of the election while we were still counting paper. Welcome to the 19th century Ohio