An empty suit

Howard Wilkinson reports in Thursday's Enquirer:

Rep. Jean Schmidt’s lawyers filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday trying to keep her GOP primary opponent, Bob McEwen, from voting in the May 2 primary – but it turns out there was one major problem.

McEwen had already voted.

Now, Schmidt’s lawyers will go to the Hamilton County Board of Elections to prevent her Republican rival’s vote from being counted, saying he does not really live in Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District.

McEwen, a former congressman, walked into the Hamilton County Board of Elections Tuesday afternoon to cast what election officials call an “in-person absentee ballot.” Any voter can do it, simply by filling out a form and voting on the spot, instead of casting a traditional absentee ballot by mail.

Lawyer Stan Chesley, a major fund-raiser for the Democratic Party who was hired by Schmidt, went to U.S. District Court here Wednesday to file a motion asking that his request for an injunction against McEwen voting be dismissed, because McEwen couldn’t be prevented by the courts from doing something he had already done.

Chesley said he would file a complaint with the Hamilton County Board of Elections asking that McEwen’s vote not be counted. Schmidt’s argument is that the condo McEwen and his wife, Liz, own in Anderson township is not a valid voting address, and that they should be voting in Northern Virginia, where they own a home.

“I’ve been around politics a long time and I’ve never seen a politician who didn’t want his picture taken at 6:30 in the morning on Election Day, casting his ballot,” Chesley said.
If Chesley files a complaint today, the four-member elections board – two Democrats and two Republicans – likely will call a meeting for later this week to hear the complaint.

McEwen was campaigning in Pike County Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. Michael Harlow, his campaign spokesman, said the Schmidt campaign will be no more successful at the county board than they were in federal court.

“Mrs. Schmidt seems afraid of the ballot box and is trying to settle this issue in the judicial system,” Harlow said.