COLUMBUS — It's a story that the Ohio GOP says started out wrong and is still wrong, but Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is trying to perpetuate it.

News reports in other states have said that Republicans would be using foreclosure lists to challenge voters' right to vote in the Nov. 4 election because their registered addresses may not be up to date.

Brunner issued an advisory to election administrators this week, telling them that a foreclosure action on its own isn't sufficient to challenge a voter's right to vote. They'll have to consider other information, such as whether the voter still lives at the house being foreclosed.

"Ohioans faced with the pain and turmoil of a home foreclosure should not be targeted by the forces of disenfranchisement on Election Day. I have taken steps today to make sure eligible voters fighting to keep their homes don't lose their right to vote," Brunner said in a press release.

Last week, Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee and several Michigan voters filed a federal lawsuit in Detroit asking for an injunction prohibiting local Republican officials from challenging voters whose homes are on foreclosure lists.

Ohio GOP spokesman John McClelland said the Michigan media report that spurred that lawsuit was inaccurate.

The New York Times published a story Thursday, Sept. 25, in which Ohio Republican Chairman Bob Bennett, when asked whether his party would use foreclosure lists, declined to publicly discuss campaign strategy.

That prompted blistering criticism from Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern who said, "Ohio Republican Party leaders are apparently harboring plans to benefit from the foreclosure crisis by disenfranchising vulnerable voters who are losing their homes or struggling to keep them."

Bennett responded: "No such plan exists. It's a complete fabrication by desperate Democrats trying to use anger as a motivational tactic. Let me be very clear on this. We absolutely condemn any effort to challenge the eligibility of voters based on home foreclosure."

Between January and June, 67,658 properties were foreclosed upon in Ohio.

Ohioans have until Oct. 6 to register to vote or update their registration with their current address.