As rain misted the windows of the Cleveland City Club, guest speaker Jennifer Brunner said she was hoping for better weather on November 4th, when a predicted 80% of Ohio voters are expected at the polls. She recalled a rainy election day in 2004 when the state was the focus of a national controversy over voting irregularities. The Secretary of State says she's trying to head-off as many potential challenges this year as possible. One area of concern is that home foreclosure lists may be used by partisan groups to question the residency of some voters.
BRUNNER: Just because somebody might be the subject of a foreclosure doesn't really mean that they shouldn't be able to vote. They might still be living in the same residence that appears in the Board of Elections' records.
Brunner adds that Ohio is taking every precaution to streamline the voting process, ranging from a detailed reference guide for poll workers... to an alliance with the Google search engine to distribute registration information to voters.
