CLEVELAND – John McCain‘s campaign yesterday questioned a move by pro-Barack Obama groups in Ohio to bus homeless people, the elderly and women in domestic-abuse shelters to polling places, saying it “doesn’t pass the smell test.”
“Our campaign is committed to ensuring that all voters have a fair and transparent election process where their votes are not wiped away by illegally cast votes,” said McCain spokesman Ben Porrit.
“Barack Obama‘s ties to radical groups like ACORN, and Obama’s own comments that applaud Democrat authority over voting machines in Ohio, is reminiscent of his Chicago-style politics, and simply doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Officials at the Obama campaign could not be reached for comment.
But the remarks came after The Post reported yesterday that volunteers supporting Obama bused hundreds of people from homeless shelters, soup kitchens and drug-rehab centers to polling sites on the final day that Ohioans could register and vote on the same day, without having to prove residency.
GOPers have argued that the same-day voting and registering could lead to fraud, because officials don’t have an opportunity to validate the registrations.
During the week of same-day registration and voting, the state’s Republican Party filed papers in federal court asking a judge to force the state’s secretary of state to match voter-registration information against data in the Bureau of Motor Vehicles system.
But the secretary, Democrat Jennifer Brunner, insisted there are plenty of safeguards to verify registration information.
Under Ohio law, voters may cast absentee ballots 35 days before Election Day and don’t have to give a reason for being an absentee. All they have to do is give their name and the last four digits of their Social Security number.
This year, the period for registration overlapped with the in-person absentee voting for seven days.