Athens County Voter Fraud Fall Out
Ohio’s top Democrat this morning chided Athens County Democratic Party Chair Susan Gwinn for allegedly running a campaign that promised $5 cash bonuses to Ohio University student Democrats for helping to get out the vote. Meanwhile, the county party’s treasurer said he knew nothing about the program and doesn’t approve of it.
In an unusually strongly worded statement, Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said, “The Ohio Democratic Party had no role in this stupid idea, and I urge Athens County Chairwoman Susan Gwinn to suspend the program immediately and not issue any payments that may have been planned. I call for a complete investigation and prosecution for any wrongdoing in this case.”
In the latter respect, Redfern appears on the same page as Athens County Republican Party Chair Pete Couladis, who issued a release Monday night asking the county Board of Elections and county prosecutor to investigate an alleged offer by the College Democrats to pay people to vote.
And Ohio GOP Chairman has called upon Ted Strickland to demand the resignation of the Athens County Democratic Party chair.
As student organizations are typically covered under a university’s 501c3 tax status, this is most certainly grounds for the OU College Republicans to have the charter of the College Dems revoked. But more importantly, a criminal investigation must continue into the party bosses who are certainly aware of Ohio’s campaign laws.
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