Jennifer Brunner
Encyclopedia
Jennifer Lee Brunner is an American politician of the Democratic Party
who served as the Ohio Secretary of State
. Brunner was the first woman to serve in this capacity. She took office after sixteen years of Republican control, which included two four-year terms by her predecessor J. Kenneth Blackwell who oversaw the 2000 and 2004 United States elections. Brunner had worked in the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office and served as a County Judge in Ohio. She also had a private practice that focused on election laws. During her private practice career, she focused on election law
and campaign finance
law where she represented a broad range of candidates, businesses, political parties and committees before the Ohio Elections Commission on quasi-criminal
matters.
As Secretary of State, she was actively involved in evaluating and adjusting statewide election systems. Her efforts focused on correcting the procedural election difficulties that Ohio was known for. She evaluated voting mechanisms and instituted policy changes. She argued policy regarding same day voting, privacy of social security information, and foreclosure-related voter eligibility.
In 2008, she earned a Profiles in Courage Award for her reform of the voting systems. During the 2008 United States elections
, Brunner was involved in several court cases in the Ohio State Supreme Court and United States Supreme Court regarding voter registration, provisional ballot
s and absentee ballot
s.
On February 17, 2009, she announced that she will be running for the 2010 United States Senate election in Ohio
since George Voinovich
is retiring. Her term as Secretary of State will be up for election in the 2010 Ohio state elections at that time. Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher
also announced his candidacy on the same day and ran against her in the Democratic primary in May 2010.
She lost the Democratic primary to Fisher on May 4, 2010.
. She earned a B.A.
in sociology
-gerontology
, cum laude, from Miami University
in 1978 and a J.D.
from Capital University Law School
with honors in 1982. Subsequently, Brunner worked in the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office as a deputy director and legislative counsel to the Ohio General Assembly
during the administration of Sherrod Brown
from 1983–87. In four years of service under Brown, Brunner's responsibilities included working with state legislators on finance-reporting laws for campaign committees and laws for election procedures.
and campaign finance
from 1988–2000. She briefly worked for the Franklin County Board of Elections. In 1988, Brunner represented the Ohio Pesticide Applicators for Responsible Regulation, when the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency held hearings about testing Ohio water supplies for pesticide
s that were not against federal regulations. She agreed that testing standards should be higher, but felt that such standards should not be mandated. She expressed an interest in public service when a seat on the Columbus City Council became available following the April 29, 1988 death of John R. Maloney. The list of candidates who applied included at least 20 applicants.
Brunner has litigated various ballot propositions. In 1988, she represented a client who contested the validity of a ballot proposal to halt the sale of alcohol at the Cuyahoga Falls entertainment center. She was treasurer of a citizens group that attacked the financial reports related to a Westerville, Ohio
school district tax levy on the November 1988 ballot. Later in 1989, she represented property owners in a rezoning
referendum
. Brunner represented Ohioans Against Casino Gambling in its dispute over the wording of the 1990 ballot issue on "games of chances".
Brunner's private practice was not exclusively about ballot issues. She served as treasurer of Choice '90, a political action committee
that ran television commercials about the abortion
positions of 1990 Ohio's gubernatorial candidates (Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr.
(D) and George Voinovich
(R)) but that was funded primarily by the Ohio Democratic Party. Brunner represented Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Eugene Branstool
in battles with the Ohio Republican Robert Bennett
and Canton, Ohio
industrialist William R. Timken
over the state redistricting following the 1990 Census. Brunner successfully brought a claim by Ohio House of Representatives
Seventh District representative Rocco J. Colonna against Brook Park
Mayor Thomas Coyne in 1991 for circulating campaign literature containing false statements.
Brunner was also involved in a drawn out case involving the rights of Hamilton County
bars
to serve alcohol in glass containers. The bars she represented were effectively put out of business by neighborhood residents' passage of an ordinance. Brunner challenged petition
signatures on a similar matter in Franklin County. However, the case in Franklin County was dismissed. The Hamilton County plaintiffs were granted a stay
preventing the Ohio Liquor Control Commission from receiving the certified May 7 results. This stay allowed their case to be heard. Meanwhile Brunner won another related case in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
. The case overturned a state law allowing liquor license
s to be revoked by popular referendum. This ruling bolstered the case of the other four bars she represented. In 1992, Franklin County Democratic Party chairwoman Fran Ryan approached Brunner about becoming a judge, but Brunner declined.
Brunner successfully defended Ohio House of Representatives
member C.J. Prentiss when her position on the ballot was challenged in the May 1994 primary. In 1998, she successfully represented House Rep. Charleta Tavares
when her petition signatures were challenged during her candidacy to replace J. Kenneth Blackwell as Ohio Secretary of State
.
In 1994, she represented the Delaware County Amphitheater Action Committee, a group that attempted to block the state Liquor Department from issuing a beer permit. When their case was dismissed, they appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. At the same time, she represented vendors whose liquor licenses were about to be cancelled following a vote where poll workers allegedly acted with bias. Brunner got her clients a September 1994 ruling that the poll workers had, in fact, attempted to influence voters. That same month, she was unable to get a pair of liquor option questions removed from the November 1994 ballot.
In 1994, Brunner also represented neighbors of an adult video store
that was being razed to make way for a McDonald's
store in an affluent neighborhood. She obtained a 14-day restraining order
to halt issuance of a zoning certificate and demolition
and building permits. The Bexley, OH neighborhood hosts the Ohio Governor's Mansion
and mansions once owned by Hustler publisher Larry Flynt
and The Limited chairman Les Wexner
. She got citizens to appear before the zoning appeals board to attempt to stop the construction. The Citizens were unsuccessful in convincing the Board of Zoning Appeals to change their earlier decisions. After the citizens were unsuccessful with the zoning board, they pursued remedy in the Franklin County Common Pleas Court. In addition to the court proceedings, the citizens sought the attention of the City Council in attempt to preserve the neighborhood by keeping the video store from being converted into a McDonald's. On April 7, 1995, Brunner gained a verdict for her clients that in the interest of avoiding traffic congestion and pedestrian dangers, the McDonald's would not be allowed to build. The developer attempted to appeal the decision by obtaining friend-of-the-court briefs from surrounding municipalities. The Franklin County Appeals Court overturned the lower court ruling making way for the construction of the McDonald's. Brunner's clients appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. A few other cases against the developers remained in some lower courts. However, these were unsuccessful. After the lower court zoning victory, in May 1995, she was hired to oppose a 259 acres (1,048,136.7 m²) project.
In 1995, Brunner again applied for a vacant seat on the Columbus City Council. That year, Brunner represented the AFL-CIO
in their battle against proposed rule changes related to new Ohio campaign finance laws. Also, in 1995, she was hired to handle several elections law cases. She successfully represented Franklin County Democratic Party Chairman Dennis White in a 1996 case about whether his primary campaign mailings violated Ohio election laws. She also was involved in a residency challenge in 1996. She represented a Seneca County
constituent of then State Representative (current State Senator) Karen Gillmor
who felt the Franklin County
home where Gillmor's family resides is her true residence. The challenge failed.
Brunner was involved in a hanging chad controversy when in a 14,696-ballot November 4, 1997 election in Licking County
an income tax
issue which had failed by four votes subsequently passed by thirteen on a November 26 automatic recount. Brunner was present for a court-ordered second January 6 recount to evaluate whether chads remained hanging by one, two, or three hinges or whether they were sufficiently indented to count.
Brunner represented the Save The Doves Committee, an animal rights
group that attempted to ban the hunting of mourning dove
s in Ohio via a ballot initiative. The group had previously attempted to petition the state to have the doves removed from the state game
list. Ohio had formerly had a history of protecting mourning doves dating back to 1917, but hunting them was legalized starting in 1995. The doves had an Ohio population of 5 million and were legal prey in 38 states. A pro hunting
wildlife group, unsuccessfully challenged the committee's petitions. The actual wording of the ballot issue, which became "No person shall take or hunt a mourning dove," was contentious. Some found the issue wording confusing because a "Yes" vote meant support for "No hunting". Television ads opposing the ballot issue also were hotly contested. This issue was the only statewide issue on the 1998 ballot. The ban proposal failed.
Brunner represented pro-gambling interests in an off-track betting
ballot issue in Stark County
. After the Canton City Council allowed a new betting parlor, the Stark County Board of Elections deadlocked along party lines on whether to allow a county-wide referendum against off-track betting. Republican Secretary of State Taft, broke the tie allowing the referendum on September 14. Brunner appealed the Board's decision to allow the voters the chance to overrule the city council.
In 1998, she represented the Ohio Democratic Party
when they challenged 1998 Ohio gubernatorial election
candidate Bob Taft's ad campaign. On various occasions, during the race she obtained probable cause determinations by the Ohio Elections Commission that there were improprieties in Taft's television commercials. While the dispute was being resolved, one of Taft's ads was ordered to be pulled off the air via a restraining order on October 10. The restraining order was lifted three days later. On October 16, the Ohio Elections Commission rebuked Taft for lying in his commercials. After the ruling, the candidates continued to contest other campaign ads for a few days. Then they signed a code of ethics. During the same election period, she represented Mark L. Mallory
in a similar ad campaign battle when he unseated State Senator Janet Howard. In another campaign advertising case, she represented Richard Cordray
who charged his opponent, Betty Montgomery
with money laundering
of campaign advertising funds. Brunner felt Montgomery should have been disqualified in the election.
Brunner also represented a pair of judge candidates who were charged with misconduct during the 1998 elections. She was able to get charges dismissed against Judge Deborah P. O'Neill of Franklin County Common Pleas Court. However, a disciplinary panel of the Ohio Supreme Court recommended Stark County Common Pleas judge candidate Elizabeth Burick to pay a $5,000 fine for actions that "demeans the judiciary".
In 1999, she represented a pair of individuals whose published election-related literature was challenged. She represented Northland Mall
owner in his attempts to block funding for roads to the planned Polaris Fashion Place
mall. Her client was able to get a ballot issue placed to oppose the special financing. Television ad regarding this issue were hotly contested. The voters failed the proposal before the Franklin County prosecutors decided whether to take actions following the Ohio Election Commission's determination that the ads were false.
In one of her final cases in private practice, Brunner returned to represent interested parties in Bexley. Although she was campaigning for her own November 2000 election at the time, she represented a restaurant at risk of losing its Sunday liquor license. After several years of representing controversial parties in elections issues, Brunner, a principal of Brunner, Kirby & Jeffries Co., ran a non-controversial campaign. Brunner, who was making her first run for elective office, opposed incumbent John F. Bender who had been appointed by Governor Taft in April 2000 to replace the retiring James J. O'Grady. The race was the only contested race in the general division of Franklin County Common Pleas Court. During the campaign, Bender outpaced Brunner in fundraising by a $76,613 to $58,145 margin.
Common Pleas Court. She was reelected in 2002. The Court of Common Pleas judges tested, approved and created a separate drug court to reduce addiction-related recidivism. Judges recommend repeat offenders who have been charged with non-violent felonies
stemming from their drug or alcohol addictions
for the program, which targets those repeatedly charged with theft, receiving stolen property, writing bad checks, prostitution
or drug possession, which are all addiction related crimes. Brunner started the court in April 2004 after several years of research.
In December 2001, she approved a US$22 million settlement between Georgia-Pacific
and 6,000 residents that resulted from a 1985 and a 1997 explosion. The settlement became controversial when several residents remained uncompensated nearly a year later. She handled cases ranging from a drug-related firebomb
death, a former-Columbus Division of Police
man's intramarital shooting and Interstate 71
highway chase, and an Ohio State University
student Drive-by shooting
death, to an international kidnapping case, alcohol service suspensions, domestic abuse, a sex offender
rights case, a federal fugitive
case, and a state construction contract
case. After Brunner's May 30 ruling in the contract case, which involved the Ohio School Facilities Commission and their $2 billion school construction program, Ohio Governor Bob Taft
forced the commission to review its contracts for a five-year retroactive period. Brunner had ruled that a three-person commission review contracts instead of just the commission's director, Randall Fischer. Approximately 1,800 contracts were reviewed. The 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals in Franklin County overturned her ruling. The Ohio State Supreme Court refused to hear appeals. Despite having been overturned, Brunner was supported by the Ohio Inspector General who found ethics violations. Brunner was also involved in a controversy for jailing a lawyer who she claimed was in contempt of court
that resulted in op-ed
page debate.
Brunner resigned from the Court on September 1, 2005 to run for Secretary of State. She ran unopposed in the May 2, 2006 Democratic Primary. On November 7, 2006, she defeated Republican
Greg Hartmann in the 2006 general election
by a 55%–40% margin and took office on January 8, 2007. Since the office is one that serves as a keeper of public records, the histories of the two candidates' vigilance against identity theft
was an important issue. The campaign also included mudslinging. She also received significant support from the Secretary of State Project
, which "helped me toward the election".
and Republican primaries
. In a US$1.9 million federally financed study released December 14, 2007, Brunner reported the results of tests of all five voting systems used in Ohio. All systems had major flaws. The study focused on security; reliability of the equipment and the systems; the software configuration; and procedures of the local officials. Security and procedures were seen to be serious problems. The security level of the computer equipment did not match the contemporaneous levels of security used in other information-sensitive industries.
She has advocated the replacement of all Ohio voting machines, including the direct-recording electronic
(DRE) touch-screen ones used in more than 50 of Ohio's 88 counties. Brunner supports a move to paper ballots, which would use optical scanning. As a result of the study, during the March 2008 primaries, paper ballots were supposed to be available at all polling places for voters who preferred them. The paper ballots also served as a backup for machine failures. Brunner mandated a paper ballot election for the November 2008 general election. This was due both to the study and problems faced during the 2007 election with touch screen electronic voting machines. However, the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly has not addressed the subject of funding an all-paper ballot. Consequently, Brunner focussed on addressing the procedures instead of the inherent lack of technical security.
In January 2007, Brunner proposed a plan that would allow counties to recruit poll workers by mail, who would then undertake two paid training days, and work a paid eight-hour shift at the polls on Election Day. Brunner explained the plan in an interview:
Brunner has established the Voting Right Institute (VRI) to improve voter access to elections in Ohio. The VRI has instituted a “Grads Vote” program which supplies voter registration forms to all graduating high school seniors
. The VRI has also partnered with the U.S. Postal Service to include voter registration forms in government moving packets and with the Overseas Vote Foundation
to improve online absentee ballot applications for overseas and military voters.
She has also moved to shield social security
information and other private information from public view for millions of online records and coordinated with the Ohio General Assembly to prevent the filing of private information.
Brunner worked with Ohio's 88 county boards of elections and thousands of poll workers to ensure record voter turnout in the March presidential primaries. Despite the record turnout, the primary was marred by paper ballot shortages, bomb threats, ice storms and power failures. In addition, flooding forced the relocation of some polling places in southeastern Ohio. 21 precincts in the Cleveland metropolitan area were held open for an extra 90 minutes due to paper ballot shortages. Brunner claimed that in Clermont
and Summit Counties
ballots ran out because of the number of Republicans who voted in the Democratic primary and that only Democratic ballots ran out.
Brunner has spoken out against election officials taking voting machines home with them in the days before an election. Such actions could allow hacking
even though it makes transport and delivery to the eventual polling place simpler. Some elections officials say they feel the system is better if elections officials keep an eye on machines the days before the elections. Brunner says poll workers have sometimes cast ballots on machines in their homes. She issued the following directive on the matter: "We want Ohio’s voters and the rest of the nation to see that we have prepared a transparent process of transporting voting equipment, ballots and supplies. That begins with security practices at boards of elections and polling places, documented chain of custody, and now procedures to make secure voting machine delivery." She has ordered bipartisan transport teams and proscribed storage conditions such as humidity. The federal government will subsidize the cost of her mandate.
In 2008 Ohio experienced an unintended consequence of a new statute that resulted in a brief period of overlap voting, when absentee voting has started and before the close of voter registration. This period ran from September 30 until October 6, due to the newly instituted early voting policy. On August 13, 2008, Brunner ordered county election board officials to establish procedures to enable voters who register
to be immediately issued an absentee ballot
. Because a voter could show up with only a cell phone bill, give any four digits and claim they were the last four digits of his or her Social Security Number, and then immediately vote and have such ballots put into the same pool as other votes with no procedure for more rigorous scrutiny of their validity, the Republican Party
opposed the same day voting plan and fought it in several Ohio Courts. Ohio Republican Party
officials and Republican voters argued in separate lawsuit
s that Ohio law requires voters to be registered for 30 days before they cast an absentee ballot. On September 29, 2008 (a day after lower state and federal courts overruled GOP objections to same-day registration and voting or GOP requests for mandated ballot segregation and verification) the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
in Cincinnati, Ohio
rejected Republican efforts to stop the plan. United States district court
judge James Gwin in Cleveland, Ohio
also ruled against the Republicans and issued a restraining order
to enforce Brunner's plan. In Columbus, Ohio
, U.S. District Judge George Smith declined to rule on another statewide challenge, deferring to the state Supreme Court's decision. The rulings, which opened a window to register and vote on the same day until the absentee ballot deadline on October 6, 2008, was upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision in which two Republican jurist
s who were on the November 2008 ballot recused
themselves and were replaced by one Republican and one Democrat by Chief Justice
Thomas Moyer. The normal roster of Ohio Supreme Court jurists is all Republican and the lone Democrat replacement, William H. Wolff, Jr., cast the tie-breaking vote. The dissenters noted that Ohio's Constitution requires that a person register to vote 30 days in before voting. Brunner ordered segregation of same-day-registration ballots and verification of them before counting them on Election Day
, November 4, 2008. In related proceedings on September 30, 2008, Judge Smith of The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus had granted an Ohio Republican Party request for a restraining order that would mandate election observers during early voting. Brunner prevailed in the appellate court which ruled that the district court “abused its discretion” in granting the restraining order.
The same-day registration ballots are subject to the standard Ohio notification card protocol whereby a postcard is sent to the newly registered address to assist in determining the validity of the address. A card that comes back marked return to sender is questioned and marked on the voter rolls. Additionally, the boards of elections submit new voter registrations into a database in the office of the Ohio Secretary of State. The information is matched with driver's license
s on an Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles database and failing a match there it is sent to the Social Security Administration to pursue a match.
, Indiana
, Michigan
, Nevada
and North Carolina
) is one of six states expected to be heavily affected by compliance with the 2002 Help America Vote Act
, which mandates that states corroborate voter registration applications with government databases. Due to the disproportionate voter registration by Democrats it is anticipated that much of the confusion at the polling places will be for challenges to newly-registered Democrats who have been delisted from the ranks of registered voters.
It appears that Ohio is using social security information to verify new voter registration, even though "[u]nder federal law, election officials are supposed to use the Social Security database to check a registration application only as a last resort, if no record of the applicant is found [within the state's own] databases," according to a New York Times article. Michael J. Astrue
, commissioner of the Social Security Administration
, alerted the United States Department of Justice
and sent letters to six states including Ohio to ensure compliance with federal law. Brunner has stated that the filing of paperwork by Republican officials may be an attempt to establish grounds for contesting ballots on Election Day. The paperwork requires use of provisional ballot
s by persons with discrepant registrations. On October 9, 2008, the Republicans also were granted an order against Brunner by Judge Smith requiring that Brunner must perform voter registration verification according to the Help America Vote Act. Matching new registrants' information against Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration databases is one of the requirements. Challenges to mismatched registrations, which force the use of provisional ballots, must be filed twenty days prior to the election. Legal expert Greta Van Susteren
viewed the ruling as a significant breaking news
story and interviewed Brunner on her show On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren the day it was made. Van Susteren interpreted the ruling as a statement that Brunner has not been taking sufficient steps to prevent voter fraud. Democracy Now!
also interviewed Brunner on that day, but they did so before the final verdict.
Between January 1, 2008 and mid-October 2008, over 666,000 Ohioans registered to vote either for the first time or with updated voter information, and over 200,000 of them provided driver's licenses or Social Security numbers that do not match government records. Over 20% of these voters are from Cuyahoga County, which is heavily Democratic. Also, many of the newly registered voters were the result of voter registration drives to register voters for Barack Obama
and Hillary Clinton for the March 4, 2008 Ohio Democratic primary
. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in a 9-6 decision, ruled against Brunner on October 14, 2008 in deciding that extra steps must be taken to authenticate these registrants and Jeffrey Sutton
's majority opinion
suggested that these misregistered voters cast provisional ballots. Historically, 20% of provisional ballots have been thrown out. As a result of the ruling, Brunner's Office of the Ohio Secretary of State must provide each county with a list of registrants with mismatching information and provide direction on a proper course of action. There are federal laws barring purging voters from the election rolls within 90 days of an election. This issue is considered to be a partisan one with Republicans favoring greater scrutiny, and the justices voted almost along party lines based on the United States President that appointed them.
On October 17, 2008, in Brunner v. Ohio Republican Party, 07A332, the United States Supreme Court overturned the 6th Circuit Decision requiring Brunner to provide lists of improperly registered voters to each county election board. The ruling means that Brunner can instruct the 88 county boards of elections to ignore public record requests by the Ohio Republican Party made to challenge registrants with information mismatched between their registration and their driver's license or social security number. The Republican Party claimed that the ruling was based on a technicality rather than the merits of the arguments. Bennett said that "The justices did not disagree with our argument that Jennifer Brunner has failed to comply with federal election law. They merely said we don't have a right to bring a private challenge against her under this particular provision." The McCain-Palin campaign said "...the United States Supreme Court does not address violations of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Rather, the Court ruled that Congress had likely not authorized private individuals or political parties to bring suit under the section of HAVA requiring voter registration verification through data-matching." Since the ruling did not directly address the issues that the Republicans wanted determined, they filed a similar case in the Ohio Supreme Court. However, they withdrew the case.
. There were 67,658 foreclosure actions in the first half of 2008. An editorial in The New York Times purported that Republicans may try to use foreclosure lists to block voters. Brunner warned all election boards that involvement in a foreclosure is not, by itself, sufficient basis for challenging enfranchisement.
On entering office, Brunner took immediate action against Republican county elections officials, including Robert T. Bennett
, Ohio Republican Party Chairman. At the time, while writing for The Cincinnati Enquirer
, columnist Peter Bronson described Brunner as "the most partisan state official in Ohio". More recently, she has been accused of partisanship by her former Secretary of State opponent in the 2008 general election. He claims that she set policy in order to throw out absentee ballots likely to be cast for the John McCain
-Sarah Palin
ticket. The Ohio State Supreme Court supported the Republican argument. Other sources claim that ACORN
advises and influences Brunner.
The 2008 general election was expected to be marred by Diebold
electronic voting machines that had malfunctioned on vote transfers from the local precinct machines to the county election board headquarters. Brunner is suing Diebold for other types of vote-dropping malfunctions. Fifty-three of eighty-eight counties used the problematic touch screen electronic voting machines. The machines had also mysteriously crashed and their printers had jammed in the 2007 elections. Brunner feels that electronic machines should be avoided until they achieve the same security standards as the computer equipment in the banking and communications industries. She issued a report that both Premier Election Solutions (a Diebold subsidiary) and Hart and Election Systems & Software produce electronic voting systems with severe security flaws.
Brunner has made several specific efforts to alleviate some of the past voting difficulties. 2008 was the first Ohio election that permits absentee voting as a matter of preference without any justification for need. This resulted in a record number of absentee ballots. Additionally, voting machine redistribution has been closely studied with the hope of alleviating long waits in problem areas. Redistribution is based on past turnout, new registrations, any recent purges under the National Voter Registration Act, and the number of ballot issues in the district. Each precinct has been supplied with sufficient paper ballots to accommodate 25% number of voters who voted in the previous presidential election.
Brunner has noted that only incarcerated convicted felons
become ineligible to vote in Ohio. Thus, persons incarcerated for misdemeanor
s and persons detained in prisons awaiting new trials can vote directly from prison.
In fall of 2008, Brunner was challenged in a pair of cases involving the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless. In September, in Project Vote (on behalf of Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless) v. Madison County Board of Elections, No. 1:08-cv-02266 (N.D. Ohio), Judge Garvin enjoined the Madison County
Board of
Elections from adhering to its September 5 announcement that it would disregard Secretary Brunner’s directives to issue an absentee ballot to anyone who has not already been registered for 30 days. The Board had threatened an action that the judge determined would violate Section 202 of the Voting Rights Act causing irreparable injury to
registered voters who will be unable to receive absentee ballots. On October 27, 2008 in the case The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless v. Brunner, Case No. C206-
896, U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus ruled that in concert with Ohio Revised Code § 3503.02(I) which states: "If a person does not have a fixed place of habitation, but has a shelter or other location at which the person has been a consistent or regular inhabitant and to which the person has the intention of returning, that shelter or other location shall be deemed the person's residence for the purpose of registering to vote." The order mandated that Brunner as Secretary of State "instruct the County Boards of Elections that provisional ballots may not be rejected for failing to list a building address on the provisional ballot envelope if the voter resides at a location that does not have an address." This ruling states that all Ohio counties must allow homeless voters use non-building locations such as park benches as their addresses. At the same time, the court ruled that poll worker error is not a valid reason to reject a provisional ballot. Time
said that these rulings brought uniformity in handling provisional ballots to the counties that did not previously exist.
On October 20, 2008 Brunner had to temporarily shut down the Ohio Secretary of State website after it was hacked
. The offense was placed under the jurisdiction of the Ohio State Highway Patrol
. At the time of the announcement Ohio Governor Ted Strickland
noted that Brunner has been the subject of threats and Brunner noted that her office has been assaulted with threats and actual delivery of abuse.
In November 2008, Brunner became involved in a legal battle against two Steve Stivers
supporters that relates to the validity of a 1000 provisional ballots in the race for Ohio's 15th congressional district
that at the time of recounting had a 149 vote margin and 27,000 absentee ballots to be counted. The case was consolidated with other cases in the United States District Court upon Brunner's request. On December 5, 2008, Stivers' supporters won a ruling in the Ohio Supreme Court that the 1,000 provisional ballots that lacked signatures or had names and signatures in the wrong places be thrown out.
would not run for re-election in 2010. Brunner's name was mentioned as a potential Democratic candidate for the seat. On January 23, 2009, Brunner and Ohio Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher
met to discuss the possibility that either of them would run, but did not confirm any decision or leanings to the media.
On February 17, 2009, Brunner announced that she would be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010. She ran against Fisher for the Democratic nomination. As of February 2010, she had significantly less cash on hand than Fisher or likely general election opponent Rob Portman
, but claimed, "I only need enough money to win," adding, "And frankly, in this economic environment, it's rather obscene when people start crowing about how many millions they have on hand." Polling in late 2009 and January 2010 showed Brunner to be more competitive than Fisher in a general election matchup against Portman, while Fisher and Brunner were deadlocked in Democratic primary polling.
Brunner lost to Fisher in the May 4, 2010 party primary.
. She and her husband, Rick, have been married 28 years and have three adult children. They have also been foster parents to three children. Brunner is an alumna of Whetstone High School in Clintonville, Ohio. Brunner served on the Ohio Student Loan Commission, a nine-member group that guarantees loans for college students, for a term that ended in 1992.
In March 2008, Brunner was given the Profile in Courage Award by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. She earned the award for challenging the reliability of electronic voting in order to protect the right to vote in Ohio. The award was announced on March 18, 2008. She received the award May 12, 2008. Brunner assumed office in 2007 and ordered paper ballots be provided to any voter who requested one in the March 2008 primary and called for the replacement of all the state's electronic voting systems by the November 2008 presidential election. Her overhaul of the Ohio voting system was considered costly and reckless by some, but after the election her risk was heralded in the press as successful.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
who served as the Ohio Secretary of State
Ohio Secretary of State
The Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing elections in the State of Ohio. The Secretary of State also is responsible for registering business entities and granting them the authority to do business within the state, registering secured transactions, and granting access to public...
. Brunner was the first woman to serve in this capacity. She took office after sixteen years of Republican control, which included two four-year terms by her predecessor J. Kenneth Blackwell who oversaw the 2000 and 2004 United States elections. Brunner had worked in the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office and served as a County Judge in Ohio. She also had a private practice that focused on election laws. During her private practice career, she focused on election law
Election law
Election law is a discipline falling at the juncture of constitutional law and political science. It researches "the politics of law and the law of politics"...
and campaign finance
Campaign finance
Campaign finance refers to all funds that are raised and spent in order to promote candidates, parties or policies in some sort of electoral contest. In modern democracies such funds are not necessarily devoted to election campaigns. Issue campaigns in referendums, party activities and party...
law where she represented a broad range of candidates, businesses, political parties and committees before the Ohio Elections Commission on quasi-criminal
Quasi-criminal
Quasi-criminal means a lawsuit or equity proceeding that has some, but not all, of the qualities of a criminal prosecution. It may appear in either a Common law or a Civil law jurisdiction...
matters.
As Secretary of State, she was actively involved in evaluating and adjusting statewide election systems. Her efforts focused on correcting the procedural election difficulties that Ohio was known for. She evaluated voting mechanisms and instituted policy changes. She argued policy regarding same day voting, privacy of social security information, and foreclosure-related voter eligibility.
In 2008, she earned a Profiles in Courage Award for her reform of the voting systems. During the 2008 United States elections
United States elections, 2008
The 2008 United States general elections were held on November 4. The result was a significant victory for the Democratic Party on the national level, as they increased majorities in both houses of Congress and won the Presidency. Democrat Barack Obama defeated Republican John McCain in the...
, Brunner was involved in several court cases in the Ohio State Supreme Court and United States Supreme Court regarding voter registration, provisional ballot
Provisional ballot
A provisional ballot is used to record a vote when there are questions in regards to a given voter's eligibility. A provisional ballot would be cast when:*The voter refuses to show a photo ID...
s and absentee ballot
Absentee ballot
An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station. Numerous methods have been devised to facilitate this...
s.
On February 17, 2009, she announced that she will be running for the 2010 United States Senate election in Ohio
United States Senate election in Ohio, 2010
The 2010 United States Senate election in Ohio was held on November 2, 2010, as one of many Ohio elections in 2010. Incumbent two-term Republican U.S. Senator George Voinovich decided to retire instead of seeking a third term...
since George Voinovich
George Voinovich
George Victor Voinovich is a former United States Senator from the state of Ohio, and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served as the 65th Governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998, and as the 54th mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989.-Personal life:Born in Cleveland, Ohio, his father was...
is retiring. Her term as Secretary of State will be up for election in the 2010 Ohio state elections at that time. Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher
Lee Fisher
Lee Fisher was the 64th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, who served with Governor Ted Strickland from 2007 until 2011.He is a member of the Democratic Party.In addition to serving as Lt...
also announced his candidacy on the same day and ran against her in the Democratic primary in May 2010.
She lost the Democratic primary to Fisher on May 4, 2010.
Career
Brunner grew up in Columbus, OhioColumbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
. She earned a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
-gerontology
Gerontology
Gerontology is the study of the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging...
, cum laude, from Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
in 1978 and a J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from Capital University Law School
Capital University Law School
Capital University Law School is an ABA-accredited private law school located in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The law school is affiliated with Capital University, the oldest and largest independent college in Central Ohio...
with honors in 1982. Subsequently, Brunner worked in the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office as a deputy director and legislative counsel to the Ohio General Assembly
Ohio General Assembly
The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate...
during the administration of Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Campbell Brown is the senior United States Senator from Ohio and a member of the Democratic Party. Before his election to the U.S. Senate, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Ohio's 13th congressional district from 1993 to 2007...
from 1983–87. In four years of service under Brown, Brunner's responsibilities included working with state legislators on finance-reporting laws for campaign committees and laws for election procedures.
Private Practice
She then began a statewide law practice where she gained 12 years experience focusing on election lawElection law
Election law is a discipline falling at the juncture of constitutional law and political science. It researches "the politics of law and the law of politics"...
and campaign finance
Campaign finance
Campaign finance refers to all funds that are raised and spent in order to promote candidates, parties or policies in some sort of electoral contest. In modern democracies such funds are not necessarily devoted to election campaigns. Issue campaigns in referendums, party activities and party...
from 1988–2000. She briefly worked for the Franklin County Board of Elections. In 1988, Brunner represented the Ohio Pesticide Applicators for Responsible Regulation, when the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency held hearings about testing Ohio water supplies for pesticide
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
s that were not against federal regulations. She agreed that testing standards should be higher, but felt that such standards should not be mandated. She expressed an interest in public service when a seat on the Columbus City Council became available following the April 29, 1988 death of John R. Maloney. The list of candidates who applied included at least 20 applicants.
Brunner has litigated various ballot propositions. In 1988, she represented a client who contested the validity of a ballot proposal to halt the sale of alcohol at the Cuyahoga Falls entertainment center. She was treasurer of a citizens group that attacked the financial reports related to a Westerville, Ohio
Westerville, Ohio
Westerville, once known as "The Dry Capital of the World", is a city in Franklin and Delaware counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 35,318 at the 2000 census.-Early history:...
school district tax levy on the November 1988 ballot. Later in 1989, she represented property owners in a rezoning
Zoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
. Brunner represented Ohioans Against Casino Gambling in its dispute over the wording of the 1990 ballot issue on "games of chances".
Brunner's private practice was not exclusively about ballot issues. She served as treasurer of Choice '90, a political action committee
Political action committee
In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...
that ran television commercials about the abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
positions of 1990 Ohio's gubernatorial candidates (Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr.
Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr.
Anthony Joseph "Tony" Celebrezze Jr. was an American politician of the Democratic party, who served as Ohio Attorney General, Ohio Secretary of State and an Ohio State Senator. He was the son of Anthony J. Celebrezze Sr....
(D) and George Voinovich
George Voinovich
George Victor Voinovich is a former United States Senator from the state of Ohio, and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served as the 65th Governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998, and as the 54th mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989.-Personal life:Born in Cleveland, Ohio, his father was...
(R)) but that was funded primarily by the Ohio Democratic Party. Brunner represented Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Eugene Branstool
Eugene Branstool
Eugene Branstool is an American politician of the Democratic party. Branstool, a Utica, Ohio, farmer, originally ran for a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives in 1974, a beat Republican Raymond Luther in the general election...
in battles with the Ohio Republican Robert Bennett
Robert T. Bennett
Robert T. Bennett was the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, having served in that post from 1988-2009.He managed Robert Taft, Jr.'s successful U.S. Senate campaign in 1970, in which he defeated Howard Metzenbaum to replace retiring Senator Stephen M. Young. The next year he managed the...
and Canton, Ohio
Canton, Ohio
Canton is the county seat of Stark County in northeastern Ohio, approximately south of Akron and south of Cleveland.The City of Caton is the largest incorporated area within the Canton-Massillon Metropolitan Statistical Area...
industrialist William R. Timken
William R. Timken
William Robert Timken, Jr. is an American industrialist and businessman and former ambassador. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany 2005–2008. He has served at The Timken Company as Chairman of the Board of Directors, President and CEO...
over the state redistricting following the 1990 Census. Brunner successfully brought a claim by Ohio House of Representatives
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate....
Seventh District representative Rocco J. Colonna against Brook Park
Brook Park, Ohio
-External links:*...
Mayor Thomas Coyne in 1991 for circulating campaign literature containing false statements.
Brunner was also involved in a drawn out case involving the rights of Hamilton County
Hamilton County, Ohio
As of 2000, there were 845,303 people, 346,790 households, and 212,582 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,075 people per square mile . There were 373,393 housing units at an average density of 917 per square mile...
bars
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
to serve alcohol in glass containers. The bars she represented were effectively put out of business by neighborhood residents' passage of an ordinance. Brunner challenged petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
signatures on a similar matter in Franklin County. However, the case in Franklin County was dismissed. The Hamilton County plaintiffs were granted a stay
Stay of proceedings
A stay of proceedings is a ruling by the court in civil and criminal procedure, halting further legal process in a trial. The court can subsequently lift the stay and resume proceedings. However, a stay is sometimes used as a device to postpone proceedings indefinitely.-United Kingdom:In United...
preventing the Ohio Liquor Control Commission from receiving the certified May 7 results. This stay allowed their case to be heard. Meanwhile Brunner won another related case in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Kentucky* Western District of Kentucky...
. The case overturned a state law allowing liquor license
Liquor license
-Alberta:In Alberta, liquor licences are issued by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission.-United Kingdom:Throughout the United Kingdom, the sale of alcohol is restricted—pubs, restaurants, shops and other premises must be licensed by the local authority. The individual responsible for the...
s to be revoked by popular referendum. This ruling bolstered the case of the other four bars she represented. In 1992, Franklin County Democratic Party chairwoman Fran Ryan approached Brunner about becoming a judge, but Brunner declined.
Brunner successfully defended Ohio House of Representatives
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate....
member C.J. Prentiss when her position on the ballot was challenged in the May 1994 primary. In 1998, she successfully represented House Rep. Charleta Tavares
Charleta Tavares
Charleta Tavares is a member of the Ohio Senate, serving the Fifteenth District since 2011. She served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1993 to 1998.-Career:...
when her petition signatures were challenged during her candidacy to replace J. Kenneth Blackwell as Ohio Secretary of State
Ohio Secretary of State
The Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing elections in the State of Ohio. The Secretary of State also is responsible for registering business entities and granting them the authority to do business within the state, registering secured transactions, and granting access to public...
.
In 1994, she represented the Delaware County Amphitheater Action Committee, a group that attempted to block the state Liquor Department from issuing a beer permit. When their case was dismissed, they appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. At the same time, she represented vendors whose liquor licenses were about to be cancelled following a vote where poll workers allegedly acted with bias. Brunner got her clients a September 1994 ruling that the poll workers had, in fact, attempted to influence voters. That same month, she was unable to get a pair of liquor option questions removed from the November 1994 ballot.
In 1994, Brunner also represented neighbors of an adult video store
Sex shop
A sex shop, erotic shop is a shop that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, clothing, pornography, and other related products...
that was being razed to make way for a McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
store in an affluent neighborhood. She obtained a 14-day restraining order
Restraining order
A restraining order or order of protection is a form of legal injunction that requires a party to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. A party that refuses to comply with an order faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
to halt issuance of a zoning certificate and demolition
Demolition
Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....
and building permits. The Bexley, OH neighborhood hosts the Ohio Governor's Mansion
Ohio Governor's Mansion
The Ohio Governor's Residence and Heritage Garden is the official residence of the Governor of Ohio. The residence was built during 1923–1925 by industrialist Malcolm D. Jeffrey and has served as the official home of the governor since 1957...
and mansions once owned by Hustler publisher Larry Flynt
Larry Flynt
Larry Claxton Flynt, Jr. is an American publisher and the president of Larry Flynt Publications . In 2003, Arena magazine listed him as the number one on the "50 Powerful People in Porn" list....
and The Limited chairman Les Wexner
Les Wexner
Leslie "Les" H. Wexner is an American businessman from Columbus, Ohio, and currently chairman and CEO of the Limited Brands corporation.-Professional:...
. She got citizens to appear before the zoning appeals board to attempt to stop the construction. The Citizens were unsuccessful in convincing the Board of Zoning Appeals to change their earlier decisions. After the citizens were unsuccessful with the zoning board, they pursued remedy in the Franklin County Common Pleas Court. In addition to the court proceedings, the citizens sought the attention of the City Council in attempt to preserve the neighborhood by keeping the video store from being converted into a McDonald's. On April 7, 1995, Brunner gained a verdict for her clients that in the interest of avoiding traffic congestion and pedestrian dangers, the McDonald's would not be allowed to build. The developer attempted to appeal the decision by obtaining friend-of-the-court briefs from surrounding municipalities. The Franklin County Appeals Court overturned the lower court ruling making way for the construction of the McDonald's. Brunner's clients appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. A few other cases against the developers remained in some lower courts. However, these were unsuccessful. After the lower court zoning victory, in May 1995, she was hired to oppose a 259 acres (1,048,136.7 m²) project.
In 1995, Brunner again applied for a vacant seat on the Columbus City Council. That year, Brunner represented the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
in their battle against proposed rule changes related to new Ohio campaign finance laws. Also, in 1995, she was hired to handle several elections law cases. She successfully represented Franklin County Democratic Party Chairman Dennis White in a 1996 case about whether his primary campaign mailings violated Ohio election laws. She also was involved in a residency challenge in 1996. She represented a Seneca County
Seneca County, Ohio
Seneca County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 56,745. Its county seat is Tiffin and it is named for the Seneca Indians.The Tiffin Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Seneca County....
constituent of then State Representative (current State Senator) Karen Gillmor
Karen Gillmor
Karen Gillmor is a Republican politician who served in the Ohio Senate, and who now serves on the Ohio Industrial Commission. She is the widow of former U.S. Congressman Paul Gillmor.-Life and career:...
who felt the Franklin County
Franklin County, Ohio
Franklin County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. In 2010 the population was 1,163,414, making it the second largest county in Ohio and the 34th largest county in population in the United States. Franklin County is also the largest in the eight-county Columbus, Ohio...
home where Gillmor's family resides is her true residence. The challenge failed.
Brunner was involved in a hanging chad controversy when in a 14,696-ballot November 4, 1997 election in Licking County
Licking County, Ohio
Licking County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 166,492. Its county seat is Newark and is named for the salt licks that were in the area....
an income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
issue which had failed by four votes subsequently passed by thirteen on a November 26 automatic recount. Brunner was present for a court-ordered second January 6 recount to evaluate whether chads remained hanging by one, two, or three hinges or whether they were sufficiently indented to count.
Brunner represented the Save The Doves Committee, an animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
group that attempted to ban the hunting of mourning dove
Mourning Dove
The Mourning Dove is a member of the dove family . The bird is also called the Turtle Dove or the American Mourning Dove or Rain Dove, and formerly was known as the Carolina Pigeon or Carolina Turtledove. It is one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds...
s in Ohio via a ballot initiative. The group had previously attempted to petition the state to have the doves removed from the state game
Game (food)
Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...
list. Ohio had formerly had a history of protecting mourning doves dating back to 1917, but hunting them was legalized starting in 1995. The doves had an Ohio population of 5 million and were legal prey in 38 states. A pro hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
wildlife group, unsuccessfully challenged the committee's petitions. The actual wording of the ballot issue, which became "No person shall take or hunt a mourning dove," was contentious. Some found the issue wording confusing because a "Yes" vote meant support for "No hunting". Television ads opposing the ballot issue also were hotly contested. This issue was the only statewide issue on the 1998 ballot. The ban proposal failed.
Brunner represented pro-gambling interests in an off-track betting
Off-track betting
Off-track betting refers to sanctioned gambling on horse racing outside a race track.-US history:...
ballot issue in Stark County
Stark County, Ohio
Stark County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 375,586. It is included in the Canton-Massillon, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area....
. After the Canton City Council allowed a new betting parlor, the Stark County Board of Elections deadlocked along party lines on whether to allow a county-wide referendum against off-track betting. Republican Secretary of State Taft, broke the tie allowing the referendum on September 14. Brunner appealed the Board's decision to allow the voters the chance to overrule the city council.
In 1998, she represented the Ohio Democratic Party
Ohio Democratic Party
The Ohio Democratic Party is the Ohio affiliate to the United States Democratic Party. Former Ohio House Minority Leader Chris Redfern is the Ohio Democratic Party chairman. Redfern was elected to office in December 2005...
when they challenged 1998 Ohio gubernatorial election
Ohio gubernatorial election, 1998
The 1998 Ohio gubernatorial election saw Robert Taft face Democrat Lee Fisher. Incumbent Governor George Voinovich was running for the Senate.The race was won by Republican Robert Taft, a member of the Taft Political Dynasty....
candidate Bob Taft's ad campaign. On various occasions, during the race she obtained probable cause determinations by the Ohio Elections Commission that there were improprieties in Taft's television commercials. While the dispute was being resolved, one of Taft's ads was ordered to be pulled off the air via a restraining order on October 10. The restraining order was lifted three days later. On October 16, the Ohio Elections Commission rebuked Taft for lying in his commercials. After the ruling, the candidates continued to contest other campaign ads for a few days. Then they signed a code of ethics. During the same election period, she represented Mark L. Mallory
Mark L. Mallory
Mark Mallory is an American politician of the Democratic Party who is currently serving as the Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. His election marked a new era for City Hall as the first two-term Mayor under the City’s new Stronger-Mayor system, the first directly-elected black Mayor, and the first Mayor...
in a similar ad campaign battle when he unseated State Senator Janet Howard. In another campaign advertising case, she represented Richard Cordray
Richard Cordray
Richard Cordray is an American politician of the Democratic Party who last served as the Attorney General of Ohio. He has been chosen to run the enforcement division of the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which officially began operating in July 2011...
who charged his opponent, Betty Montgomery
Betty Montgomery
Betty Montgomery is an American politician from the state of Ohio. A Republican, she formerly served as Ohio State Auditor.-Prosecutor:...
with money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
of campaign advertising funds. Brunner felt Montgomery should have been disqualified in the election.
Brunner also represented a pair of judge candidates who were charged with misconduct during the 1998 elections. She was able to get charges dismissed against Judge Deborah P. O'Neill of Franklin County Common Pleas Court. However, a disciplinary panel of the Ohio Supreme Court recommended Stark County Common Pleas judge candidate Elizabeth Burick to pay a $5,000 fine for actions that "demeans the judiciary".
In 1999, she represented a pair of individuals whose published election-related literature was challenged. She represented Northland Mall
Northland Mall
Northland Mall was a shopping mall located on the north side of Columbus, Ohio, at the intersection of Morse Road and Karl Road. It opened in 1964 as an open-air shopping center and the first shopping mall in Columbus...
owner in his attempts to block funding for roads to the planned Polaris Fashion Place
Polaris Fashion Place
Polaris Fashion Place is a two level shopping mall and surrounding retail plaza serving Columbus, Ohio, United States. The mall, owned locally by Glimcher Realty Trust, is located off Interstate 71 on Polaris Parkway in Delaware County just to the north of the boundary between Delaware and Franklin...
mall. Her client was able to get a ballot issue placed to oppose the special financing. Television ad regarding this issue were hotly contested. The voters failed the proposal before the Franklin County prosecutors decided whether to take actions following the Ohio Election Commission's determination that the ads were false.
In one of her final cases in private practice, Brunner returned to represent interested parties in Bexley. Although she was campaigning for her own November 2000 election at the time, she represented a restaurant at risk of losing its Sunday liquor license. After several years of representing controversial parties in elections issues, Brunner, a principal of Brunner, Kirby & Jeffries Co., ran a non-controversial campaign. Brunner, who was making her first run for elective office, opposed incumbent John F. Bender who had been appointed by Governor Taft in April 2000 to replace the retiring James J. O'Grady. The race was the only contested race in the general division of Franklin County Common Pleas Court. During the campaign, Bender outpaced Brunner in fundraising by a $76,613 to $58,145 margin.
Early elective career
In 2000, Brunner was elected to an unexpired term on the Franklin CountyFranklin County, Ohio
Franklin County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. In 2010 the population was 1,163,414, making it the second largest county in Ohio and the 34th largest county in population in the United States. Franklin County is also the largest in the eight-county Columbus, Ohio...
Common Pleas Court. She was reelected in 2002. The Court of Common Pleas judges tested, approved and created a separate drug court to reduce addiction-related recidivism. Judges recommend repeat offenders who have been charged with non-violent felonies
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
stemming from their drug or alcohol addictions
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
for the program, which targets those repeatedly charged with theft, receiving stolen property, writing bad checks, prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
or drug possession, which are all addiction related crimes. Brunner started the court in April 2004 after several years of research.
In December 2001, she approved a US$22 million settlement between Georgia-Pacific
Georgia-Pacific
Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is one of the world's leading manufacturers and distributors of tissue, pulp, paper, packaging, building products and related chemicals. As of Fall 2010, the company employed more than 40,000 people at more...
and 6,000 residents that resulted from a 1985 and a 1997 explosion. The settlement became controversial when several residents remained uncompensated nearly a year later. She handled cases ranging from a drug-related firebomb
Firebombing
Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs....
death, a former-Columbus Division of Police
Columbus Division of Police
The Columbus Division of Police is the main policing unit for the city of Columbus, Ohio. It is composed of 20 precincts, and the Chief of Police is Walter Distelzweig. Columbus is ranked the 8th most dangerous city in the United States of the 15 cities with a population of 700,000 or more,...
man's intramarital shooting and Interstate 71
Interstate 71
Interstate 71 is an Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64 and Interstate 65 in Louisville, Kentucky. Its northern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 90 in Cleveland,...
highway chase, and an Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
student Drive-by shooting
Drive-by shooting
A drive-by shooting is a form of hit-and-run tactic, a personal attack carried out by an individual or individuals from a moving or momentarily stopped vehicle without use of headlights to avoid being noticed. It often results in bystanders being shot instead of, or as well as, the intended target...
death, to an international kidnapping case, alcohol service suspensions, domestic abuse, a sex offender
Sex offender
A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and by legal jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions compile their laws into sections such as traffic, assault, sexual, etc. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a...
rights case, a federal fugitive
Fugitive
A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals...
case, and a state construction contract
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
case. After Brunner's May 30 ruling in the contract case, which involved the Ohio School Facilities Commission and their $2 billion school construction program, Ohio Governor Bob Taft
Bob Taft
Robert Alphonso "Bob" Taft II is an Ohio Republican Party politician. He was elected to two terms of office as the 67th Governor of the U.S. state of Ohio between 1999-2007. After leaving office, Taft started working for the University of Dayton beginning August 15, 2007.-Personal background:Taft...
forced the commission to review its contracts for a five-year retroactive period. Brunner had ruled that a three-person commission review contracts instead of just the commission's director, Randall Fischer. Approximately 1,800 contracts were reviewed. The 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals in Franklin County overturned her ruling. The Ohio State Supreme Court refused to hear appeals. Despite having been overturned, Brunner was supported by the Ohio Inspector General who found ethics violations. Brunner was also involved in a controversy for jailing a lawyer who she claimed was in contempt of court
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
that resulted in op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
page debate.
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Greg Hartmann in the 2006 general election
United States general elections, 2006
The 2006 United States midterm elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006. All United States House of Representatives seats and one third of the United States Senate seats were contested in this election, as well as 36 state governorships, many state legislatures, four territorial...
by a 55%–40% margin and took office on January 8, 2007. Since the office is one that serves as a keeper of public records, the histories of the two candidates' vigilance against identity theft
Identity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
was an important issue. The campaign also included mudslinging. She also received significant support from the Secretary of State Project
Secretary of State Project
Formed in the fall of 2006 by a group of progressive California activists, the Secretary of State Project is an American non-profit, progressive or liberal 527 political action committee focused on electing reform-minded progressive Secretaries of State in battleground states, who typically oversee...
, which "helped me toward the election".
Secretary of State
Ohio is notorious for its 2000 and 2004 Election Day problems. The state had hours-long lines at polling places in its major cities in 2004 and a fraud scandal in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, that led to the convictions of two elections workers on rigging recounts and Ms. Brunner’s takeover of the county board of elections. In September 2007, Brunner announced extensive efforts to identify and correct serious problems with the security and reliability of voting machines in time for the March 4, 2008 Ohio DemocraticOhio Democratic primary, 2008
The 2008 Ohio Democratic primary took place on March 4, 2008 and was open to registered Democrats and Independents. Ohio sent 141 pledged delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, which were awarded to the candidates proportionally based on the outcome of the election. In addition,...
and Republican primaries
Ohio Republican primary, 2008
The 2008 Ohio Republican primary took place on March 4, 2008. That night, candidate John McCain secured enough delegate votes to win the Republican nomination for the 2008 U.S...
. In a US$1.9 million federally financed study released December 14, 2007, Brunner reported the results of tests of all five voting systems used in Ohio. All systems had major flaws. The study focused on security; reliability of the equipment and the systems; the software configuration; and procedures of the local officials. Security and procedures were seen to be serious problems. The security level of the computer equipment did not match the contemporaneous levels of security used in other information-sensitive industries.
She has advocated the replacement of all Ohio voting machines, including the direct-recording electronic
DRE voting machine
A direct-recording electronic voting machine records votes by means of a ballot display provided with mechanical or electro-optical components that can be activated by the voter ; that processes data by means of a computer program; and that records voting data and ballot images in memory components...
(DRE) touch-screen ones used in more than 50 of Ohio's 88 counties. Brunner supports a move to paper ballots, which would use optical scanning. As a result of the study, during the March 2008 primaries, paper ballots were supposed to be available at all polling places for voters who preferred them. The paper ballots also served as a backup for machine failures. Brunner mandated a paper ballot election for the November 2008 general election. This was due both to the study and problems faced during the 2007 election with touch screen electronic voting machines. However, the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly has not addressed the subject of funding an all-paper ballot. Consequently, Brunner focussed on addressing the procedures instead of the inherent lack of technical security.
In January 2007, Brunner proposed a plan that would allow counties to recruit poll workers by mail, who would then undertake two paid training days, and work a paid eight-hour shift at the polls on Election Day. Brunner explained the plan in an interview:
"In terms of Ohio and what happened in the 2004 presidential election, there has been a crisis in confidence in our election system in Ohio, both nationally and in our state. One of the quickest ways to repair that is to make sure that we have adequate numbers of poll workers. ... We suggested this as one tool that the boards of elections would have available to them for recruiting poll workers. We would be looking to do this similar to how we recruit jurors, only jurors are recruited for two weeks of service whereas we'd only be asking for three days. It would also allow us to offer split shifts to poll workers. In Ohio the polling places are open for thirteen hours, so essentially a poll worker works at least fourteen hours; with the average age of our poll workers at 72, that's a tough day for anyone, no matter what their age is. ... It's an option, and we can even include a trigger, so that a county has to be deficient by a certain percentage of poll workers to even be able to use this."In the initial proposal it was not yet decided what wages would be paid, and whether refusing recruitment would result in penalties. The proposal will be decided by the Ohio General Assembly.
Brunner has established the Voting Right Institute (VRI) to improve voter access to elections in Ohio. The VRI has instituted a “Grads Vote” program which supplies voter registration forms to all graduating high school seniors
Twelfth grade
Twelfth grade or Senior year, or Grade Twelve, are the North American names for the final year of secondary school. In most countries students then graduate at age 17 or 18. In some countries, there is a thirteenth grade, while other countries do not have a 12th grade/year at all...
. The VRI has also partnered with the U.S. Postal Service to include voter registration forms in government moving packets and with the Overseas Vote Foundation
Overseas Vote Foundation
Overseas Vote Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit United States-based 501 public charity that helps American citizens overseas and in the military participate in federal elections. These voters' rights fall under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act...
to improve online absentee ballot applications for overseas and military voters.
She has also moved to shield social security
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
information and other private information from public view for millions of online records and coordinated with the Ohio General Assembly to prevent the filing of private information.
Brunner worked with Ohio's 88 county boards of elections and thousands of poll workers to ensure record voter turnout in the March presidential primaries. Despite the record turnout, the primary was marred by paper ballot shortages, bomb threats, ice storms and power failures. In addition, flooding forced the relocation of some polling places in southeastern Ohio. 21 precincts in the Cleveland metropolitan area were held open for an extra 90 minutes due to paper ballot shortages. Brunner claimed that in Clermont
Clermont County, Ohio
Clermont County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States, just east of Cincinnati. As of 2010, the population was 197,363. Its county seat is Batavia...
and Summit Counties
Summit County, Ohio
Summit County is an urban county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 542,899. In the 2010 Census the population was 541,781. Its county seat is Akron...
ballots ran out because of the number of Republicans who voted in the Democratic primary and that only Democratic ballots ran out.
Brunner has spoken out against election officials taking voting machines home with them in the days before an election. Such actions could allow hacking
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
even though it makes transport and delivery to the eventual polling place simpler. Some elections officials say they feel the system is better if elections officials keep an eye on machines the days before the elections. Brunner says poll workers have sometimes cast ballots on machines in their homes. She issued the following directive on the matter: "We want Ohio’s voters and the rest of the nation to see that we have prepared a transparent process of transporting voting equipment, ballots and supplies. That begins with security practices at boards of elections and polling places, documented chain of custody, and now procedures to make secure voting machine delivery." She has ordered bipartisan transport teams and proscribed storage conditions such as humidity. The federal government will subsidize the cost of her mandate.
Same-day voter registration
Voter registration
Voter registration is the requirement in some democracies for citizens and residents to check in with some central registry specifically for the purpose of being allowed to vote in elections. An effort to get people to register is known as a voter registration drive.-Centralized/compulsory vs...
to be immediately issued an absentee ballot
Absentee ballot
An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station. Numerous methods have been devised to facilitate this...
. Because a voter could show up with only a cell phone bill, give any four digits and claim they were the last four digits of his or her Social Security Number, and then immediately vote and have such ballots put into the same pool as other votes with no procedure for more rigorous scrutiny of their validity, the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
opposed the same day voting plan and fought it in several Ohio Courts. Ohio Republican Party
Ohio Republican Party
The Ohio Republican Party is the Ohio state affiliate of the United States Republican Party. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio on February 13, 1854. Kevin DeWine has been chairman of the Ohio GOP since 2009...
officials and Republican voters argued in separate lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
s that Ohio law requires voters to be registered for 30 days before they cast an absentee ballot. On September 29, 2008 (a day after lower state and federal courts overruled GOP objections to same-day registration and voting or GOP requests for mandated ballot segregation and verification) the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Kentucky* Western District of Kentucky...
in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
rejected Republican efforts to stop the plan. United States district court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
judge James Gwin in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
also ruled against the Republicans and issued a restraining order
Restraining order
A restraining order or order of protection is a form of legal injunction that requires a party to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. A party that refuses to comply with an order faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
to enforce Brunner's plan. In Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, U.S. District Judge George Smith declined to rule on another statewide challenge, deferring to the state Supreme Court's decision. The rulings, which opened a window to register and vote on the same day until the absentee ballot deadline on October 6, 2008, was upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision in which two Republican jurist
Jurist
A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
s who were on the November 2008 ballot recused
Recusal
Judicial disqualification, also referred to as recusal, refers to the act of abstaining from participation in an official action such as a legal proceeding due to a conflict of interest of the presiding court official or administrative officer. Applicable statutes or canons of ethics may provide...
themselves and were replaced by one Republican and one Democrat by Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
Thomas Moyer. The normal roster of Ohio Supreme Court jurists is all Republican and the lone Democrat replacement, William H. Wolff, Jr., cast the tie-breaking vote. The dissenters noted that Ohio's Constitution requires that a person register to vote 30 days in before voting. Brunner ordered segregation of same-day-registration ballots and verification of them before counting them on Election Day
Election Day (United States)
Election Day in the United States is the day set by law for the general elections of public officials. It occurs on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The earliest possible date is November 2 and the latest possible date is November 8...
, November 4, 2008. In related proceedings on September 30, 2008, Judge Smith of The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus had granted an Ohio Republican Party request for a restraining order that would mandate election observers during early voting. Brunner prevailed in the appellate court which ruled that the district court “abused its discretion” in granting the restraining order.
The same-day registration ballots are subject to the standard Ohio notification card protocol whereby a postcard is sent to the newly registered address to assist in determining the validity of the address. A card that comes back marked return to sender is questioned and marked on the voter rolls. Additionally, the boards of elections submit new voter registrations into a database in the office of the Ohio Secretary of State. The information is matched with driver's license
Driver's license
A driver's license/licence , or driving licence is an official document which states that a person may operate a motorized vehicle, such as a motorcycle, car, truck or a bus, on a public roadway. Most U.S...
s on an Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles database and failing a match there it is sent to the Social Security Administration to pursue a match.
Help America Vote Act (HAVA)
Ohio (along with ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
) is one of six states expected to be heavily affected by compliance with the 2002 Help America Vote Act
Help America Vote Act
The Help America Vote Act , or HAVA, is a United States federal law which passed in the House 357-48 and 92-2 in the Senate and was signed into law by President Bush on October 29, 2002. Drafted in reaction to the controversy surrounding the 2000 U.S...
, which mandates that states corroborate voter registration applications with government databases. Due to the disproportionate voter registration by Democrats it is anticipated that much of the confusion at the polling places will be for challenges to newly-registered Democrats who have been delisted from the ranks of registered voters.
It appears that Ohio is using social security information to verify new voter registration, even though "[u]nder federal law, election officials are supposed to use the Social Security database to check a registration application only as a last resort, if no record of the applicant is found [within the state's own] databases," according to a New York Times article. Michael J. Astrue
Michael J. Astrue
Michael James Astrue is an American lawyer and, under the pen name A. M. Juster, a poet and critic. He has served as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration since 2007.-Career:...
, commissioner of the Social Security Administration
Social Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits...
, alerted the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
and sent letters to six states including Ohio to ensure compliance with federal law. Brunner has stated that the filing of paperwork by Republican officials may be an attempt to establish grounds for contesting ballots on Election Day. The paperwork requires use of provisional ballot
Provisional ballot
A provisional ballot is used to record a vote when there are questions in regards to a given voter's eligibility. A provisional ballot would be cast when:*The voter refuses to show a photo ID...
s by persons with discrepant registrations. On October 9, 2008, the Republicans also were granted an order against Brunner by Judge Smith requiring that Brunner must perform voter registration verification according to the Help America Vote Act. Matching new registrants' information against Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration databases is one of the requirements. Challenges to mismatched registrations, which force the use of provisional ballots, must be filed twenty days prior to the election. Legal expert Greta Van Susteren
Greta Van Susteren
Greta Van Susteren is an American commentator and television personality on the Fox News Channel, where she hosts On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren...
viewed the ruling as a significant breaking news
Breaking news
Breaking news, also known as a special report or news bulletin, is a current event that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming and/or current news in order to report its details. Many times, breaking news is used after the news network has already reported on this story...
story and interviewed Brunner on her show On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren the day it was made. Van Susteren interpreted the ruling as a statement that Brunner has not been taking sufficient steps to prevent voter fraud. Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
also interviewed Brunner on that day, but they did so before the final verdict.
Between January 1, 2008 and mid-October 2008, over 666,000 Ohioans registered to vote either for the first time or with updated voter information, and over 200,000 of them provided driver's licenses or Social Security numbers that do not match government records. Over 20% of these voters are from Cuyahoga County, which is heavily Democratic. Also, many of the newly registered voters were the result of voter registration drives to register voters for Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and Hillary Clinton for the March 4, 2008 Ohio Democratic primary
Ohio Democratic primary, 2008
The 2008 Ohio Democratic primary took place on March 4, 2008 and was open to registered Democrats and Independents. Ohio sent 141 pledged delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, which were awarded to the candidates proportionally based on the outcome of the election. In addition,...
. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in a 9-6 decision, ruled against Brunner on October 14, 2008 in deciding that extra steps must be taken to authenticate these registrants and Jeffrey Sutton
Jeffrey Sutton
Jeffrey S. Sutton is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.- Early life :Sutton received his B.A. from Williams College in 1983...
's majority opinion
Legal opinion
In law, an opinion is usually a written explanation by a judge or group of judges that accompanies an order or ruling in a case, laying out the rationale and legal principles for the ruling....
suggested that these misregistered voters cast provisional ballots. Historically, 20% of provisional ballots have been thrown out. As a result of the ruling, Brunner's Office of the Ohio Secretary of State must provide each county with a list of registrants with mismatching information and provide direction on a proper course of action. There are federal laws barring purging voters from the election rolls within 90 days of an election. This issue is considered to be a partisan one with Republicans favoring greater scrutiny, and the justices voted almost along party lines based on the United States President that appointed them.
On October 17, 2008, in Brunner v. Ohio Republican Party, 07A332, the United States Supreme Court overturned the 6th Circuit Decision requiring Brunner to provide lists of improperly registered voters to each county election board. The ruling means that Brunner can instruct the 88 county boards of elections to ignore public record requests by the Ohio Republican Party made to challenge registrants with information mismatched between their registration and their driver's license or social security number. The Republican Party claimed that the ruling was based on a technicality rather than the merits of the arguments. Bennett said that "The justices did not disagree with our argument that Jennifer Brunner has failed to comply with federal election law. They merely said we don't have a right to bring a private challenge against her under this particular provision." The McCain-Palin campaign said "...the United States Supreme Court does not address violations of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Rather, the Court ruled that Congress had likely not authorized private individuals or political parties to bring suit under the section of HAVA requiring voter registration verification through data-matching." Since the ruling did not directly address the issues that the Republicans wanted determined, they filed a similar case in the Ohio Supreme Court. However, they withdrew the case.
Other issues
One month before the 2008 United States election, 5% of Ohio mortgages were either severely delinquent or in foreclosureForeclosure
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...
. There were 67,658 foreclosure actions in the first half of 2008. An editorial in The New York Times purported that Republicans may try to use foreclosure lists to block voters. Brunner warned all election boards that involvement in a foreclosure is not, by itself, sufficient basis for challenging enfranchisement.
On entering office, Brunner took immediate action against Republican county elections officials, including Robert T. Bennett
Robert T. Bennett
Robert T. Bennett was the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, having served in that post from 1988-2009.He managed Robert Taft, Jr.'s successful U.S. Senate campaign in 1970, in which he defeated Howard Metzenbaum to replace retiring Senator Stephen M. Young. The next year he managed the...
, Ohio Republican Party Chairman. At the time, while writing for The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Cincinnati Enquirer, a daily morning newspaper, is the highest-circulation print publication in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The Cincinnati Enquirer, a daily morning newspaper, is the highest-circulation print publication in Greater Cincinnati (Ohio) and Northern Kentucky. The...
, columnist Peter Bronson described Brunner as "the most partisan state official in Ohio". More recently, she has been accused of partisanship by her former Secretary of State opponent in the 2008 general election. He claims that she set policy in order to throw out absentee ballots likely to be cast for the John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
-Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
ticket. The Ohio State Supreme Court supported the Republican argument. Other sources claim that ACORN
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues...
advises and influences Brunner.
The 2008 general election was expected to be marred by Diebold
Diebold
Diebold, Inc. is a United States-based security systems corporation that is engaged primarily in the sale, manufacture, installation and service of self-service transaction systems , electronic and physical security products , and software and integrated systems for global financial and...
electronic voting machines that had malfunctioned on vote transfers from the local precinct machines to the county election board headquarters. Brunner is suing Diebold for other types of vote-dropping malfunctions. Fifty-three of eighty-eight counties used the problematic touch screen electronic voting machines. The machines had also mysteriously crashed and their printers had jammed in the 2007 elections. Brunner feels that electronic machines should be avoided until they achieve the same security standards as the computer equipment in the banking and communications industries. She issued a report that both Premier Election Solutions (a Diebold subsidiary) and Hart and Election Systems & Software produce electronic voting systems with severe security flaws.
Brunner has made several specific efforts to alleviate some of the past voting difficulties. 2008 was the first Ohio election that permits absentee voting as a matter of preference without any justification for need. This resulted in a record number of absentee ballots. Additionally, voting machine redistribution has been closely studied with the hope of alleviating long waits in problem areas. Redistribution is based on past turnout, new registrations, any recent purges under the National Voter Registration Act, and the number of ballot issues in the district. Each precinct has been supplied with sufficient paper ballots to accommodate 25% number of voters who voted in the previous presidential election.
Brunner has noted that only incarcerated convicted felons
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
become ineligible to vote in Ohio. Thus, persons incarcerated for misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
s and persons detained in prisons awaiting new trials can vote directly from prison.
In fall of 2008, Brunner was challenged in a pair of cases involving the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless. In September, in Project Vote (on behalf of Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless) v. Madison County Board of Elections, No. 1:08-cv-02266 (N.D. Ohio), Judge Garvin enjoined the Madison County
Madison County, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 40,213 people, 13,672 households, and 10,035 families residing in the county. The population density was 86 people per square mile . There were 14,399 housing units at an average density of 31 per square mile...
Board of
Elections from adhering to its September 5 announcement that it would disregard Secretary Brunner’s directives to issue an absentee ballot to anyone who has not already been registered for 30 days. The Board had threatened an action that the judge determined would violate Section 202 of the Voting Rights Act causing irreparable injury to
registered voters who will be unable to receive absentee ballots. On October 27, 2008 in the case The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless v. Brunner, Case No. C206-
896, U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus ruled that in concert with Ohio Revised Code § 3503.02(I) which states: "If a person does not have a fixed place of habitation, but has a shelter or other location at which the person has been a consistent or regular inhabitant and to which the person has the intention of returning, that shelter or other location shall be deemed the person's residence for the purpose of registering to vote." The order mandated that Brunner as Secretary of State "instruct the County Boards of Elections that provisional ballots may not be rejected for failing to list a building address on the provisional ballot envelope if the voter resides at a location that does not have an address." This ruling states that all Ohio counties must allow homeless voters use non-building locations such as park benches as their addresses. At the same time, the court ruled that poll worker error is not a valid reason to reject a provisional ballot. Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
said that these rulings brought uniformity in handling provisional ballots to the counties that did not previously exist.
On October 20, 2008 Brunner had to temporarily shut down the Ohio Secretary of State website after it was hacked
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
. The offense was placed under the jurisdiction of the Ohio State Highway Patrol
Ohio State Highway Patrol
The Ohio State Highway Patrol is a division of the Ohio Department of Public Safety and is the official highway patrol agency of Ohio. The several missions of the Patrol include providing roadway patrol, emergency response to all public lands, the investigation of crimes which occur on state...
. At the time of the announcement Ohio Governor Ted Strickland
Ted Strickland
Theodore "Ted" Strickland was the 68th Governor of Ohio, serving from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing ....
noted that Brunner has been the subject of threats and Brunner noted that her office has been assaulted with threats and actual delivery of abuse.
In November 2008, Brunner became involved in a legal battle against two Steve Stivers
Steve Stivers
Steve Stivers is the U.S. Representative for He is a member of the Republican Party. Stivers previously served in the Ohio Senate, representing the 16th district...
supporters that relates to the validity of a 1000 provisional ballots in the race for Ohio's 15th congressional district
Ohio's 15th congressional district
The 15th congressional district of Ohio is currently represented by Republican Steve Stivers.Union County and Madison County are entirely within the district's boundaries as is approximately half of Franklin County...
that at the time of recounting had a 149 vote margin and 27,000 absentee ballots to be counted. The case was consolidated with other cases in the United States District Court upon Brunner's request. On December 5, 2008, Stivers' supporters won a ruling in the Ohio Supreme Court that the 1,000 provisional ballots that lacked signatures or had names and signatures in the wrong places be thrown out.
2010 Campaign for U.S. Senate
Brunner's term as Ohio Secretary of State ends in 2011 and is up for re-election in 2010 along with other Ohio statewide offices. In January, rumors that were eventually confirmed began circulating that second term Republican United States Senator George VoinovichGeorge Voinovich
George Victor Voinovich is a former United States Senator from the state of Ohio, and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served as the 65th Governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998, and as the 54th mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989.-Personal life:Born in Cleveland, Ohio, his father was...
would not run for re-election in 2010. Brunner's name was mentioned as a potential Democratic candidate for the seat. On January 23, 2009, Brunner and Ohio Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher
Lee Fisher
Lee Fisher was the 64th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, who served with Governor Ted Strickland from 2007 until 2011.He is a member of the Democratic Party.In addition to serving as Lt...
met to discuss the possibility that either of them would run, but did not confirm any decision or leanings to the media.
On February 17, 2009, Brunner announced that she would be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010. She ran against Fisher for the Democratic nomination. As of February 2010, she had significantly less cash on hand than Fisher or likely general election opponent Rob Portman
Rob Portman
Robert Jones "Rob" Portman is the junior United States Senator from Ohio. He is a member of the Republican Party. He succeeded retiring Senator George Voinovich....
, but claimed, "I only need enough money to win," adding, "And frankly, in this economic environment, it's rather obscene when people start crowing about how many millions they have on hand." Polling in late 2009 and January 2010 showed Brunner to be more competitive than Fisher in a general election matchup against Portman, while Fisher and Brunner were deadlocked in Democratic primary polling.
Brunner lost to Fisher in the May 4, 2010 party primary.
Personal
Brunner is a resident of Columbus, OhioColumbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
. She and her husband, Rick, have been married 28 years and have three adult children. They have also been foster parents to three children. Brunner is an alumna of Whetstone High School in Clintonville, Ohio. Brunner served on the Ohio Student Loan Commission, a nine-member group that guarantees loans for college students, for a term that ended in 1992.
In March 2008, Brunner was given the Profile in Courage Award by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. She earned the award for challenging the reliability of electronic voting in order to protect the right to vote in Ohio. The award was announced on March 18, 2008. She received the award May 12, 2008. Brunner assumed office in 2007 and ordered paper ballots be provided to any voter who requested one in the March 2008 primary and called for the replacement of all the state's electronic voting systems by the November 2008 presidential election. Her overhaul of the Ohio voting system was considered costly and reckless by some, but after the election her risk was heralded in the press as successful.
General election results
| Office | Year | Democrat Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous... |
Votes | Pct. | Republican Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S... |
Votes | Pct. | Non-Partisan | Votes | Pct. | Non-Partisan | Votes | Pct. |
| Franklin County Judge Of Court Of Common Pleas | 2000 | |Jennifer Brunner | | | |50.94% | | John Bender | | | | 49.06% | | | | | | | |||
| Franklin County Judge Of Court Of Common Pleas | 2002 | |Jennifer Brunner | |109,713 | |51.8% | |Michael J. Holbrook | |102,050 | |48.2% | ||||||
| Ohio Secretary Of State | 2006 | |Jennifer Brunner | |2,104,114 | |55.03% | |Greg Hartmann | |1,546,454 | |40.45% | |John A. Eastman | |94,706 | |2.48% | Timothy J. Kettler | 78,080 | 2.04% |
External links
- Ohio Secretary of State official Ohio government site
- Jennifer Brunner for U.S. Senator official campaign site
- 2010 campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
- Brunner on the Foreclosure Crisis and Her State’s Lawsuit Against Ally Financial - video interview by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
- Columbus Dispatch Local ballot issues often clear as mud