U.S. Dep't of Justice "Pleased" With Brunner's Handling of Voter Registration under HAVA

Jessice Wehrman reports on the Dayton Daily News politics blog this afternoon that the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has been speaking with Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner for the past week about her implementation of certain provisions of the Help America Vote Act regarding state voter registration databases. Specifically, the federal authorities asked what she was doing to eliminate voter registration applications under the names of dead people and duplicate voter registrations, and she issued directives to ensure that existing precautions in these areas would continue. Spokesperson Jamie Hais said the Department of Justice is “pleased” with Brunner’s cooperation, but will "continue to monitor the situation in Ohio."

This can't be what House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and other Republican members of the House from Ohio hoped for when they fired off a letter to U.S. Attorney General Mukasey, and then another to George Bush, calling for federal intervention in Ohio. Having castigated Brunner's implementation of HAVA as illegal and tantamount to facilitating voting fraud, this sign of approval is a serious political setback for them.