Oh Hell No, Ohio!

Once again, the Buckeye State finds itself in the midst of a pickle, this time not because votes haven't been counted, but because of voter registration problems. And this time it is going to the US Supreme Court before the election to decide what to do.

Truthout and the The Washington Post reports:

As many as 200,000 votes in the pivotal state of Ohio could be at stake in a legal battle between Republicans and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, and Ohio officials have appealed to the Supreme Court to block efforts to turn aside a lower court order to alter procedures to check new voter registrations.

The battleground state already has become the setting for a series of lawsuits over voter eligibility. About 660,000 new voters have registered since January with an edge to Democrats.

Ohio's attorney general filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday night on behalf of Brunner, a Democrat. It contends that upholding a Tuesday decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit would create havoc on Election Day and cause many voters to cast "provisional" ballots that may or may not ultimately be tallied depending on judgments by local elections boards.

More here.

Updated: According to CNN
The Supreme Court is backing Ohio elections officials in an ongoing dispute over allegations of voter registration fraud.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner filed the emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.

The justices in an unsigned opinion Friday blocked a lower court order directing the Ohio Secretary of State -- a Democrat -- to update the state's voter registration database after information provided by some newly registered voters did not match up with Social Security and driver registration numbers.

The state Republican party had asked for enforcement of a temporary restraining order, but the justices ultimately denied that request.

The appeal, from Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and other elections officials, follows a Tuesday ruling from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati that sided with the state GOP.

It ordered Brunner to create a system by Friday to provide a list of newly registered voters whose Social Security numbers or driver's license numbers do not match their names. More.