ORP tries to glue ACORN to Brunner

The Ohio Republican Party is accusing a controversal voter mobilization group of advising Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (D).

In a press release sent today, the ORP said Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) advises Brunner and that it "publically admits" to election fraud in Ohio. In addition, the ORP said a branch of ACORN regulary advises Brunner on election strategy.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that ACORN said duplicate registration cards may have been filled out by its field workers trying to meet quotas and that the duplicates may go unnoticed by its observers. The Cuyahoga Co. Board of Elections found 50 duplicate cards that registered the same names.

The Plain Dealer story and Brunner's refusal to allow election obsevers into early-voting locations means Brunner and ACORN are in bed together, according to the ORP's deputy chair.

"She takes her marching orders from these groups, and she's complicit in their efforts to cover up this shady and illegal activity," said Kevin DeWine in a statement.

Brunner has said that bipartisan poll workers can observer the electoral process but that the legislature has not empowered county boards of election to permit observers during the early voting period.