Election board in Cleveland looking into party switchers

CLEVELAND — The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is investigating whether any Republicans broke the law when they switched parties in the March 4 presidential primary, apparently to back a weaker opponent for GOP nominee-in-waiting John McCain.

The board expects the results of the investigation March 31.

The board wants to know if voters lied when they signed statements pledging allegiance to their new party.

About 16,000 GOP voters crossed over to vote for Democrats in the primary.

It’s not clear whether the board will try to prosecute voters.

A 2-2 party-line tie by the board to pursue violators would have to be broken by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat.

Brunner “has not been contacted by anyone regarding the prosecution of alleged improper ’crossover voting’,” spokesman Jeff Ortega said in an e-mail.

Any prosecutions in such cases would be up to local prosecutors or, if they decline to pursue it, the Ohio attorney general, Ortega said.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, a Democrat, said he hasn’t seen evidence of wrongdoing by switchers and was skeptical a criminal case could be made.

“If any evidence is presented to us, we’ll review it. It’s going to be very difficult if not impossible to make a case against a voter who has switched parties,” he said Thursday.

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