February 26, 2010

Remember way back in 2008, during the big primary, when Rush Limbaugh was telling Republican voters in Ohio and Texas to switch to a Democratic registration just so they could vote for Hillary and screw up the primary? People listened and obeyed, and now it looks like it could be coming back to haunt them:

Victoria Robertson has been an avowed Republican for decades, working tirelessly for conservative candidates and causes.

That is until a typo by a pollworker changed her party affiliation, elections officials say. Now she can’t even run for re-election to the GOP central committee.

“You’re a Democrat as we speak until the primary, and that cannot be changed until you get the right box checked,” Butler County Board of Elections Chairman Tom Ellis told her at a board meeting Wednesday, Feb. 24 — the deadline to certify the May primary ballot.

Now I have no reason to not believe that this was an accident that happened to Robertson. As matter of fact, one of the Democrats on the board even believes so:

“I find it to be a very disturbing situation,” Democratic board member John Holcomb said. “I think it is really a situation that cries out for procedural reform to take that power away from pollworkers.”

I know John and if he believes that then so do I, but there is something else in this article that really got my curiosity going:

Robertson was one of seven candidates for Republican central committee who were disqualified for pulling Democratic ballots in the 2008 primary. She was the only one to contest it, officials said.

Now let me pretend I am a lawyer making some closing arguments. In these closing arguments I want to present all the facts again. Here they are in nice bullet point form:

  • Butler County, Ohio has a population of 332,000
  • Butler County is a very red county, voting for McCain over Obama in 2008 by 61%-38%
  • In 2008 Butler County made national attention when people proudly proclaimed their obedience to Rush stating that they did exactly what he asked for.
  • In 2010, the next election cycle, 7 Republicans have been disqualified from running for voting Democratic in the 2008 primary
  • In 2010 0 Democrats have had this problem.

Coincidence? Sure, it could be, and unicorns could also roam the earth.

Now let’s think about this. Jumping parties in the primary like people did is actually a crime in Ohio. Out of 7 Republicans having this problem, only 1 has come forward to contest it. And keep in mind that these aren’t just your run of the mill Republicans, these are people who are involved in local politics. They are running for a position that is a foreign word to most people - “central committee”. That means they are devoted to party politics and now are considered to be on the enemy side, yet they aren’t contesting it? Something smells fishy here and I would go back to the plea by the GOP leader, Rush Limbaugh, asking his minions to jump party lines in Ohio in 2008.

Chalk this up a hard learned lesson. When you listen to a moron with a megaphone, some of that moron’s idiocy will rub off on you and cost you in the end.

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