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State candidates give views to Democratic Women
Mount Vernon News
September 06, 2006
By John Boyce
The Knox County Democratic Women met Secretary of State candidate Judge Jennifer Brunner and Ohio 5th District Court of Appeals judge candidate Patricia Delaney on Tuesday night at The Inn at Hillenvale. Brunner was introduced by her Knox County campaign coordinator, Jo Anne Williams. Williams noted Brunner has been judged by many to be the “best candidate ever for the Secretary of State job in view of her past experience in former Secretary of State Sherrod Brown's office as legislative counsel and her 13 years of experience as an attorney specializing in election law. “She has also served as a special prosecutor for election fraud,” Williams said. “Right up our alley.” After saying a few words of strong endorsement for Delaney, Brunner got right to the main emphasis of her campaign message by saying, “I want to be a secretary of state who people trust to handle elections in this state just like they would trust a judge.” She pointed out the secretary of state is the fifth voting member of every board of elections, so any decision on which a board has a tie vote, the secretary breaks that vote and makes a decision almost like a judicial decision. “I looked at what Ken Blackwell was doing in 2004 campaigning for State Issue 1, campaigning for George Bush's re-election, serving as a co-chair of his campaign committee in Ohio, and I said, ‘Oh, my goodness, we never were allowed to do that even as a deputy director under Sherrod Brown.' We understood, nobody had to tell us, that if you're the people counting the votes, don't take a side on either side of the issue. It's kind of like an umpire; you can't wear the jersey of one of the teams. I was really upset to see what Blackwell was doing in 2004.” Brunner said the worst thing that it did was undermine people's trust in the process. She said she looks at democracy as a lot like the judicial system — it's fragile and it's only as good as what people perceive it to be. If people lose faith or trust in that system, she said, they're not going to respect it and it's not going to work; and, in the case of voting, they're not going participate. Brunner said the thing that makes democracy work the best is robust participation from as many people as possible, which led her into a discussion of the Ohio's complicated voting laws. “We need a secretary of state who is willing to make it accessible to people,” Brunner said. “I've heard it said that voting should be as easy as going to get a glass of water.” Brunner then brought up the Voter Identification Law and the possible impact it will have on the election process in November. She emphasized that under the law, if a voter doesn't have the right kind of identification, he or she will be required to vote a provisional ballot. In her opinion, that creates the possibility of situations similar to those which arose with provisional ballots in the 2004 elections because of some of Blackwell's actions. According to Brunner, the four acceptable forms of identification for voting are a photo ID issued by the state of Ohio or the United States Government, a current utility bill with the voter's name and address on it, a bank statement with the voter's name and current address on it, or a government-issued document such as a government check with the voter's name and address on it. “If you don't have any of those, then you have to vote a provisional ballot,” Brunner said. Brunner said she foresees problems with the voter ID requirements, especially for an older person in a nursing home, a college student, a person living in poverty and others. She said she is looking for the law to be challenged, possibly within the next several days. She also said Blackwell's office has not been putting out much in the way of guidance to help local election boards on the matter. The best solution, according to Brunner, is to encourage both early and absentee voting. Absentee ballot requests can be sent in now to local board of elections office and early voting at the board of elections office can be done beginning 35 days prior to the election. She said the Cuyahoga County Commissioners have decided to send out absentee ballot request forms to all registered voters in the county in an effort to eliminate problems in the Nov. 7 elections. “There's a lot of work we have to do after the elections and after the new secretary of state takes office in January,” Brunner said. “I never, ever want to have our state ridiculed as it was after the 2004 elections.” After an extended period of taking questions from the audience, Brunner concluded by saying, “We should give every person the chance to vote who has the right to vote.” Prior to Brunner's address, Delaney, who is serving as an assistant city attorney for Columbus, gave a short campaign address of her own. She began by expressing appreciation, on her own behalf and that of all the candidates, for all the effort that has been put forth at the grassroots level for all of the candidates. She then told the audience why the 5th District Court of Appeals is important to Knox Countians — primarily because that is where a lot of important legal cases come to an end. She cited as an example the school funding case. Delaney, who was originally scheduled to speak to the Knox County Democratic Women next month but can not due to a scheduling conflict, concluded by telling the audience the best things it can do to support herself and the other candidates is word of mouth and e-mail passages to friends and family of the candidates' campaign messages.
