OH GOP Preempts Election Day Results With “Placeholder” ComplaintsWith the polls closing in just hours, the Ohio Republican party — already thwarted in their attempts at voter suppression by the DOJ and the Supreme Court — have continued to file complaints against Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the Wall Street Journal blog Washington Wire reports:
Republicans also raised new concerns about the counting of provisional ballots and other voting procedures. The party wants an injunction that would require Brunner to rescind some of her voting directives.Brunner filed a motion asking to have the case consolidated with another federal suit pending in Cleveland. In the Cleveland case, the secretary of state recently reached an agreement with the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless that county boards of election will have consistent standards for counting provisional ballots. Such ballots require additional checks and aren’t counted until well after Election Day.
The WSJ quotes Edward B. Foley, director of the election-law program at the Ohio State University, who calls the Republicans’ suit a “placeholder” in case the voting results in Ohio are close — an idea echoed by a voting expert
Rick Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and an election expert, echoed this to TPMmuckraker saying it was “a way to have a foot in court” in the event that the vote is tight in Ohio and litigaiton is needed.