Instead of deferring to a U.S. attorney general who is not
serious about enforcing the law against voter fraud, Ohio’s
Republican secretary of state should have prioritized ballot
integrity, Anita MonCrief, a former ACORN employee turned
conservative activist, said in a phone interview. It is now clear
that dead and ineligible voters will remain on the voter rolls in a
state that could decide today’s presidential election.
Under Section 7 of the 1993 National Voter Registration
Act (NVRA),, state social welfare agencies are required to
offer potential voters registration forms while they seeking other
government services. This part of the law is commonly known as
“motor voter.” But under Section 8 of the NVRA, state officials are
required to maintain and update voter roles as a safeguard against
fraudulent efforts. This means they must purge the rolls of dead
voters and ineligible voters who have moved.
But attorney general Eric Holder, and other top officials within
the U.S. Justice Department, according to several attorneys who
previously worked in the Voting Section of the DOJ’s Civil Rights
Division including
Christopher Coates and J. Christian Adams. Sen. David Vitter
(R-La.) has also accused the Obama DOJ of “selectively enforcing”
motor voter while ignoring Section 8.
In February, Judicial Watch sent a letter to Ohio Secretary of
State Jon Husted presenting evidence that his state was not in
compliance with the requirements of Section 8 under the National
Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Section 8 calls for state officials
to purge the names of dead and ineligible voters from the rolls.
After reviewing U.S. Census data, Judicial Watch found that a total
of 34 counties had unusually high registration figures. The problem
is particularly acute in Auglaize, Wood, and Morrow counties where
the number of individuals listed on the voter registration forms
exceeds 100 percent of the total voting age population.
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said that in his
response to the Section 8 allegations Secretary Husted wrote back
to Judicial Watch that his office had been “hampered… by the
restrictions and seemingly inconsistent provisions of the NVRA” and
that he had a written letter to Attorney General Holder seeking
guidance.
“The whole point of having a secretary of state and having
someone in that position is to enforce the law and if you’re
compromising on a critical question like this than it says to me
you cannot be trusted,” MonCrief said. “We are talking about
something that could decide outcome of the presidential election.
Ohio could make all the difference.”
MonCrief is a former employee of ACORN’s Project Vote affiliate.
She testified against both Project Vote and ACORN in 2008 as part
of a voter registration fraud case in Pennsylvania. She is a now a
senior advisor to True the Vote, a grassroots group based in
Houston, Texas that favors ballot integrity initiatives. Judicial
Watch and True the Vote have filed a
lawsuit against Ohio state officials citing Section 8
violations. They have filed
a similar suit against state officials in Indiana.
“Secretary Husted is just trying to come down the middle and
avoid controversy,” MonCrief said. “He has future political
ambitions and that’s what he’s trying to protect. But he should be
protecting his constituents from voter fraud. If the election is
stolen for President Obama, it will be stolen in Ohio.”
