16,000 Republicans in Cuyahoga Crossed Over and Voted Democratic in Primary
By Amanda Garrett
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Sunday 09 March 2008

A staggering 16,000-plus Republicans in Cuyahoga County switched parties when they voted in last week's primary.

That includes 931 in Rocky River, 1,027 in Westlake and 1,142 in Strongsville. More than a third of the Republicans in Solon and Bay Village switched. Pepper Pike had the most dramatic change: just under half its Republicans became Democrats. And some of those who changed - it's difficult to say how many - could be in trouble with the law.

At least one member of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections wants to investigate some Republicans who may have crossed party lines only to influence which Democrat would face presumed Republican nominee John McCain in November.

Those who crossed lines were supposed to sign a pledge card vowing allegiance to their new party.

In Cuyahoga County, dozens and dozens of Republicans scribbled addendums onto their pledges as new Democrats:

"For one day only."

"I don't believe in abortion."

A Plain Dealer review of thousands of records showed few of those who switched were challenged by poll workers.

Sandy McNair, a Democratic member of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, said Friday that the manipulation of the system was troublesome.

"It's something that concerns me, that I think needs to be looked at further," McNair said. "This is not a structural thing by the Republican Party. If it's a problem at all, it's on an individual level."

Lying on the pledge is a felony, punishable by six to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Election watchers said they don't know any cases that have been prosecuted in Ohio. And it's unlikely the Republican crossovers influenced the outcome since Clinton handily defeated Barack Obama, said Edward Foley, an election-law professor at Ohio State University.

But he said Ohioans need to learn the rules governing their voting - and poll workers need to enforce them.

In a nutshell, here's how it's supposed to work: Ohio voters are allowed to switch party affiliations on the day of a primary election but only if they sign a pledge vowing to support their new party - and mean it.

If a majority of poll workers at a precinct doubt a voter's sincerity, they can challenge the voter even if the voter signed the pledge.

In the days following the election, The Plain Dealer interviewed more than two dozen voters - most of them Republicans who crossed over to Democrats last week.

None - including five who acknowledged lying about supporting the Democrats - were challenged. And several said poll workers never asked them to sign a pledge but gave them a Democratic ticket.

A Movement Is Afoot...

Some Republicans refer to it as "the plot."

It started a few weeks ago when conservative radio powerhouse Rush Limbaugh suggested that his Republican following cross over during the primary to vote for Clinton. Clinton, Limbaugh argued, would be easier for McCain to beat in November than Obama.

Soon, local morning radio show host Bob Frantz echoed Limbaugh on WTAM AM/1100, and the buzz began to grow.

Cuyahoga County Republican Chairman Rob Frost tried to tamp down the temptation. He contacted Republican voters and appeared on the Frantz show urging Republicans "not to heed the siren call of Rush Limbaugh and others."

"Elections are not something you should be playing games with," Frost said last week during a telephone interview.

Yet temptation was strong.

North Ridgeville Republican Hazel Sferry said she was kicking herself all day Tuesday after voting for McCain.

Don't get her wrong. Sferry supports McCain.

But after she voted, she ran into her niece who told her about "the plot."

Her niece, Republican Sherry Newell, crossed over Tuesday after hearing Limbaugh. Newell said she voted for Obama because she thought McCain had a better chance against him.

Regardless, Sferry said she thought it was a great idea to mess with the other party if it helped McCain win.

"I don't mind being deceptive to politicians," she said. "They are deceptive to us."

On Both Sides of the Cuyahoga

On the other side of Cleveland, temptation to cross over was strong, too.

Republican Kitty Anderson began working in voting precincts during the early 1960s, and Tuesday's turnout in the Republican stronghold of Chagrin Falls was the largest she had ever seen.

It also had the most crossover voting.

Anderson, 76, and her husband, Donald, 78, served as poll workers on Tuesday and both helped fellow Republicans change parties all day; when it was time for them to vote, they crossed over, too.

"We are both concerned about what Obama would do if he was president. We don't trust him," Kitty Anderson said. "I have five grandchildren, and I keep thinking I want this world to be safe for these kids. I don't feel good about Obama. He just seems to be so vague." Come November, the Andersons said they'll most likely vote for McCain.

But not all of Chagrin Falls crossovers were motivated by the same things.

John Baggett, 50, said there was no single thing that turned him against the Republicans.

Baggett, a former military man who describes himself as conservative, said he believed the GOP has led the country in the wrong direction.

-------

What???

This is nothing new...I know democrats and republicans both who are registered to the other party so they can vote for the opponent most likely to lose to their candidate in the main election.

Those who crossed lines were supposed to sign a pledge card vowing allegiance to their new party.
??????????????????????????????????????WWWWWWWWWTF?



A Plain Dealer review of thousands of records showed few of those who switched were challenged by poll workers

If this is true.
I didnt think they were allowed to try any kind of influential activities at an election place!

I believe 99% of this story is made up!

Made up by Amanda Garrett

So what's the problem did you think the Democrats had a lock on being sneaky?

i do it all the time whenever i want to vote in a primary

register! VOTE! it doesn't matter what your current party affiliation is!!

welcome to american sewer system

oooppps

i mean political system

<<<--- they are watching

Fanta, I had alot of the same questions, that is what the "what" was for. I did not realize that there are pledging to vote a certain way for one, and then the "plot" doesn't seem viable to me. So I still say "what?" I am registered dem but I can vote however I want to, I know that, so what is this pledging and stuff? How can a person be prosecuted?

Thought maybe someone could shed a little light on it.

same here...lol..it is called a "pre-emtive strike" in terms of warfare

I don't believe the story was made up, but it does have an obvious slant. How many Democratic voters switched parties? How many voters crossed over to the Independent side (supposedly Ralph Nader is running as an Independent).

Yes, talk show hosts have been talking about shenanigans. I'm surprised there were quite a few that may have engaged. but it sounds like only a few ballots had stuff like "for one day only" on them. And, how many Republicans voted? What portion of the voting public switched? The article doesn't say. Although, I do admit that 16,000 is a lot of switchers.

And if they helped swing the nomination to Barak Obama, they probably did the Democratic party a favor since, believe it or not (this election is darned strange), he polls better against McCain than Hillary Clinton does.

As Artie Johnson used to say "Ver-ry interesting. But, stupid!"

i said right from the beginning hilary would be the best thing that could happen for the republican party

no i did not cross over

i am an independant

As this report details, voter intimidation and suppression is not a problem limited to the southern United States. It takes place from California to New York, Texas to Illinois. It is not the province of a single political party, although patterns of intimidation have changed as the party allegiances of minority communities have changed over the years.

In recent years, many minority communities have tended to align with the Democratic Party. Over the past two decades, the Republican Party has launched a series of 'ballot security' and 'voter integrity' initiatives which have targeted minority communities. At least three times, these initiatives were successfully challenged in federal courts as illegal attempts to suppress voter participation based on race.

The first was a 1981 case in New Jersey which protested the use of armed guards to challenge Hispanic and African-American voters, and exposed a scheme to disqualify voters using mass mailings of outdated voter lists. The case resulted in a consent decree prohibiting efforts to target voters by race.

Six years later, similar 'ballot security' efforts were launched against minority voters in Louisiana, Georgia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana. Republican National Committee documents said the Louisiana program alone would 'eliminate at least 60- 80,000 folks from the rolls,' again drawing a court settlement.

And just three years later in North Carolina, the state Republican Party, the Helms for Senate Committee and others sent postcards to 125,000 voters, 97 percent of whom were African American, giving them false information about voter eligibility and warning of criminal penalties for voter fraud - again resulting in a decree against the use of race to target voters.



Damn Republicans!!!

Limbaugh urged Republicans to vote Democratic, not because he wanted Hillary in and felt she would be easier for McCain to beat in November than Obama, but because he wants to keep Hillary in the race. Rush wants the fighting between Hillary and Obama to escalate in the hope the two of them will implode the Democratic Party with their attacks on each other. Another reason Rush wants Hillary to stay in the race is so that Obama and Hillary will spend their money fighting each other. Then when the time comes to fight McCain one on one, whichever one is left as the Democratic nominee will not have that much money left to spend campaigning.

"Those who crossed lines were supposed to sign a pledge card vowing allegiance to their new party"

NEVER!!!!! I took a pledge to NO party, except the American party when I raised my hand.

I dont know if both parties do this or if it is some kind of dem thing, either way it is total BS, and prosecuted? for what, excersizing your god giving constitutionally right to vote in an open and free election?

The dems, Hillary especially should be thanking us for keeping her in the race, albeit for just a short while longer. AND we in turn should be thanking her for taking swings at Obama as well as the Dem party leadership as well. You Go Girl, hahahahaha!

Hillary is thanking Rush for keeping her in the race. She's been on cable TV with that artificial big bug-eyed look of hers and that witch's cackle saying "Rush, be careful what you wish for." It makes me wonder if Hillary knows where "Be careful what you wish for ...." originated. It became popular when a short story, "The Monkey's Paw," was published.

The story is about a talisman (the paw of a dead monkey) that grants its possessor three wishes. However, the wishes come with such an enormous price and nightmarish dreadful horror that the third and final wish is to undo the first two previous ones. Does Hillary realize she is admitting and setting herself up to be "The horror! The horror!" which must be undone!

A loyalty oath to the new party. Well DUH people can sign anything but who is going to know how they voted, I guess the Democrats never heard of a Secret Ballot. Once you are in the voting booth all bets and prior committments are off.

In Chicago and New York everybody in the graveyard votes democrat.

What amazes me is even with this screwed up system we still remain the greatest nation in the world. If you don't think this is the greatest place to be, ask 20 million illegal immigrants