Ohio: GOP Pre-Challenges 35,000 Voters

Ohio GOP Pre-Challenges 35,000 Voters
By Erin Brezsnyak
CNSNews.com Correspondent
October 22, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - The Ohio Republican Party officially filed challenges Friday to approximately 35,000 registrants in 65 counties where voter fraud is believed to have taken place.

The state's Republican Party is pre-challenging these registrants' right to vote in the 2004 presidential election because mail to the new registrants was returned as undeliverable by U.S. Postal Service authorities.

"Our goal in filing these pre-election challenges is to protect the integrity of Ohio's electoral process," said Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. "We want to ensure that voters are not disenfranchised by fraud in this election. This is an effort to clarify questionable registrations in advance so they don't become an issue on Election Day."

Earlier in the week, Bennett was joined by Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie at a news conference where he showed thousands of pieces of undeliverable mail to newly registered voters. Concern was raised when the rate of return was at an unprecedented higher rate than in the past.

At the previous news conference, Bennett cited that the normal rate of return on new registrations in less than 1 percent. However, this year the rate of return has ranged from 2 percent to 11 percent in Ohio counties.

Bennett also called on the Democratic Party to help in ensuring a fair and honest election this November, instead of making outrageous claims that the Republican Party is trying to suppress voters.