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Bush Intervenes in Ohio Voter Dispute

By Jason Leopold
October 25, 2008


In a d�j� vu moment from Campaign 2006, President George W. Bush again is asking his Attorney General to launch an investigation into the registration of hundreds of thousands of new voters, many of whom are expected to vote Democratic.

Bush forwarded to Attorney General Michael Mukasey a Republican request that he intervene in the battleground state of Ohio to force 200,000 new voters to either verify the information on their registration forms or cast provisional ballots, which are often thrown out after the voter leaves the polling place.

Similarly, two years ago when Bush feared Democratic victories in congressional races, the President �spoke with Attorney General [Alberto] Gonzales in October 2006 about their concerns over voter fraud,� according to a Justice Department Inspector General�s reported released earlier this month.

In 2006, the White House and some congressional Republicans also put pressure on the Justice Department and U.S. Attorneys around the country to bring last-minute indictments against pro-Democratic voter registration drives.

When some federal prosecutors balked because they found a lack of evidence, they were purged as part of an unprecedented firing of nine U.S. Attorneys, who were deemed not �loyal Bushies.�

That �prosecutor-gate� scandal led to the resignations of several senior White House and Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Gonzales. President Bush then asserted broad executive privilege to block testimony by Karl Rove and other top White House officials.

Now, two years later, Bush is again putting the Justice Department in position to act on a new round of �voter fraud� suspicions pushed by Republican leaders and his favored successor, Sen. John McCain.

While the goal in 2006 was to salvage Republican control of Congress, Bush�s latest move appears aimed at keeping the White House in Republican hands.

Federal intervention � if ordered by Mukasey � could wreak havoc at polling places across Ohio, with Republican operatives using data on mismatches to challenge thousands of voters and causing long lines in Democratic strongholds.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Bush asking for his extraordinary intervention after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to get involved in the Ohio dispute.

�Unless action is taken by the [Justice] Department immediately, thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands of names whose information has not been verified through the [Help America Vote Act] procedures mandated by Congress will remain on the voter rolls during the Nov. 4 election. �

�There is a significant risk if not a certainty, that unlawful votes will be cast and counted. Given the Election Day is less than two weeks away, immediate action by the Department is not only warranted, but also crucial.�

On Friday, White House spokesman Carlton Carroll said Bush had referred Boehner�s letter �to the Department of Justice for their review.�

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