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Brunner: Election Will Make History
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Hudson Hub-Times July 20, 2008 |
As we look toward a historic November election in Ohio, with an anticipated turnout of 80 percent, three key words come to mind: preparation, partnership and success.
Since taking office a year and half ago, my staff and I in the Secretary of State's office have been working in partnership with every Ohio county to be fully prepared for this year's presidential election.
In a first-ever March Primary Election Report released by my office last month, we documented how Ohio's election officials successfully weathered challenges ranging from flooding and ice storms to machine programming and bomb threats. In the process, we ran a successful primary with 46 percent turnout that garnered more than 500,000 absentee voters.
As we prepare for Election Day, our focus is on the needs of Ohio's voters for a smooth-running election system that they can trust.
To bolster election security, we will act on the recommendations of a bipartisan election officials group to require county voting system security plans, bipartisan ballot transport and statewide post-election audits.
We will continue to make backup paper ballots available in counties with electronic touchscreen voting machines as a best practice to ensure every eligible vote can be cast and counted.
We are working to provide clear and simple instructions to poll workers to help voters.
We are working with boards on clean voter rolls to minimize the use of provisional ballots and on making every polling place accessible to persons with disabilities.
These initiatives are designed to improve Ohioans' voting experiences. Change can be hard, but if we stand together, with voters topmost in mind, we can achieve success for our state here at home and in the eyes of the country.
Ohio's voting system has been established to recognize the inherent tensions between two parties and to use that tension to act as checks and balances in the system.
As long as the Secretary of State belongs to one or another of the political parties, someone will be questioning her or his motivations.
Unequivocally, my efforts are focused on making Ohio's election system the best it can be. My focus is on what must be done in public service -- serve people for their greater good.
Whether Republican or Democrat, Ohio's election officials must move toward November with this shared goal in mind, despite the forces or influences they may be subjected to in the process. We owe it to the voters of the state.
With every meeting conducted, every checklist prepared, every tough decision made, I am urging Ohio's election officials to be focused on this indisputable fact -- Ohioans and our country expect and deserve nothing but the very best from us all.
Success will be measured by a lot of people in a lot of ways this November.
Did voting lines move quickly? Were the poll books up to date? Were the voting machines working? Did our poll workers know their jobs? Were absentee ballots handled properly? Did we operate an election people felt confident about?
Preparation and partnership will enable us and Ohioans to say a resounding "yes."
