Statement on 6th Circuit Court Ruling

(Columbus) - Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett issued the following statement today regarding the decision by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a federal court ruling ordering Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to provide an adequate system of identifying newly registered voters:

"Jennifer Brunner continues to do everything she can to help her candidate.  Her efforts to fight transparency and accountability in the voting process are shameful, and her actions to conceal fraudulent activity only serve to cast doubt on the integrity of this election. 

Even the courts acknowledge Secretary Brunner failed to provide election administrators with an adequate system of verifying voter registrations.  She claims her office has the ability to flag questionable registrations, but she refuses to give that information to county election officials for review.  The Secretary of State was asked about this process months ago, and she intentionally stonewalled everyone involved. 

Ohioans have good reason to be concerned.  A national Democrat activist group publicly admitted this week to engaging in fraudulent voter registration activity right here in Ohio, but rather than holding them accountable Jennifer Brunner is fighting to let their actions go unchecked. 

We agree with the dissenting judge in this ruling, who said Brunner's 'lack of concern for the integrity of the elections process is astounding and deeply disturbing.'  She has fought to keep absentee ballots from qualified Republican voters; she has fought to keep observers from watching the early voting process; and now she has fought to keep election officials from verifying the identity of newly registered voters.  Her legal battles serve only to destroy public confidence. 

We have asked the court for an en banc review the case, but regardless of the outcome we will continue to defend the integrity of this election against the partisan maneuvering of Ohio's chief elections officer."