From the Tribune-Chronicle

Democrats are crying foul over voter registration rules that Blackwell recently wrote. His rules are based on the state’s new voting law, which Democrats claim he is misinterpreting.

The law took effect May 1 and calls for the secretary of state’s office to develop an online training guide. Blackwell’s training guide states that voter registrants must return all registration cards themselves to his office or a county board of elections. Typically, registrants turn cards in to the organizations they work for and those groups send them to the state secretary or county board en mass. Blackwell’s rules also state registrants face a fifth-degree felony if there is voter fraud.

Democrats say this intimidates people who might otherwise register more Democrats. However, even though Blackwell released the guide, he had little control over what it says.

‘‘We were specific about the way we wrote (the law),’’ Sen. Jeff Jacobson said to the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. ‘‘We gave him no wiggle room.’’

Some Democrats claim that Blackwell’s rules should not apply to people who volunteer to register voters. However, State Rep. Kevin DeWine, R-Fairborn, who sponsored the bill, said the law covers volunteers. Even attorneys for the Ohio League of Women Voters determined that the law covers volunteers, according to the league’s election specialist, Peg Rosenfield.

Say it ain't so!