There has been a lot of confusion since the Ohio Primary. Some people have labeled it as an "open primary". As a former precinct captain, I can tell you that is not necessarily the case.
While you are allowed to change parties when voting in the primary, you are required to sign a form stating that you are doing so because you uphold the political beliefs of that party.
Ohio's primary system is semi-closed in the sense that voters are required to declare their party affiliation on primary day. Independent voters may ask for a Democratic or Republican Party ballot with no questions asked. But the law requires poll workers to challenge voters who have declared themselves Democrats or Republicans during the last two years.
Crossover voters must sign a form stating they intend to uphold the principles of their new party. If they refuse to sign, they may still vote, but the ballot will be counted as "provisional," giving the board of elections 10 days to investigate its veracity. In an even more bizarre twist under Ohio law, if a majority of poll workers doubt the loyalty of a crossover voter, they may classify the ballot cast as provisional, whether the voter signs the form or not.
During this year's primary there were numerous voters who crossed over from Republican to Democrat in order to vote for Hillary. This followed Rush Limbaughs urging for Republicans to do just that. People even went as far as to appear on TV saying they did this because Rush urged them to. So the question must be answered if Limbaugh invoked a criminal act.
Now we have an investigation into people switching parties in order to answer Rush's wish:
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has launched an investigation that could lead to criminal charges against voters who maliciously switched parties for the March 4 presidential primary.
Elections workers will look for evidence that voters lied when they signed affidavits pledging allegiance to their new party. And at least one board member, Sandy McNair, a Democrat, wants the county prosecutor to review the findings.
But it remained unclear Wednesday whether the four-member board will agree to pursue prosecution. A 2-2 vote would mean that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, would have to break the tie.
During this investigation, Rush Limbaugh must be looked at. He used public airwaves to encourage people to engage in an illegal activity. At the minimum we should see a FCC investigation into this.
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Here are some more immportant questions that need to be addressed prior to asking if Rush Limbaugh broke the law.
Are you kidding me? Voters are required to sign a form saying they will remain loyal to the parties principals? When did we become a communist nation? Is it even constitutional for a political party to request a loyality pledge?
What has happened to the Democratic party? The same people who claim voter suppression by Republicans but never prove it, are now making voters sign a loyality oath. Then to make maters worse, Democrats are going to be standing outside polling places with voter registration lists questioning voters who go in to vote. If this isn't voter intimidation then I don't know what is!
It is not a political party requesting, it is state law and has been for at least 40 years that I know of. This means it isn't the "Democratic Party", it is LAW. The same thing applies if Democrats wanted to do the same on Republican primaries.
Also it is the JOB of the Poll Workers to question it. If they feel there is reason to believe they are crossing over to sway a election, then they challenge them and that person has to file a provisional ballot. Again - it's the LAW.
Finally - it is not Rush Limbaugh, or his little minions, to determine if a law is constitutional or not. That is left up to the courts. Although it is funny when Kos was urging Democrats in Michigan to vote for Romney, where there is a totally open primary, Rush was one of the many voices on the right saying "Daily Kos is provoking voter fraud". Again - in Michigan crossing over is legal. In Ohio - not so much.
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