We heard a lot last night about Joe the Plumber, but did you know that a recent court ruling last night threatens the ability of thousands like Joe to have their votes counted? According to today's Toledo Blade, he is Joe Wurzelbacher of Shrewsbury Street in Springfield Township in Lucas County, Ohio.
As the Blade notes, many thought Joe was not a registered voter. Turns out there was likely a misspelling in the Lucas County Board of Elections database. From the Blade: "Linda Howe, executive director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, said a Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher, whose address and age match Joe the Plumber's, registered in Lucas County on Sept. 10, 1992. He voted in his first primary on March 4, 2008, registering as a Republican. Ms. Howe said that the name may be misspelled in the database."

Politico's Ben Smith makes the connection that if Joe registered this year, he could be purged from the rolls under a 6th Circuit Court ruling on Tuesday.

That's because on Tuesday, following a lawsuit by the Ohio republican party, the court ordered Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to disclose to local election officials the names of 200,000 new registrants whose names didn't match with state motor vehicle or federal Social Security databases. This list could be used by local election officials and party operatives to prevent these voters from casting ballots that will count. As Secretary Brunner knows and the Brennan Center demonstrated in the brief, almost all mis-matches are the result of typos and administrative errors—like in Joe's case.

Imagine you're a college student and you'll be voting for the first time in November. You hear from some that you're able to register to vote at your university address. You are warned by others that if you do, you could lose a scholarship, or health or car insurance, and you'll have to get a new driver's license, too. You consider voting absentee, only to be told by get-out-the-vote volunteers that your absentee ballot really counts only if the election is close.

Confused yet?

Virginia Tech students certainly were when they were delivered these conflicting messages over the past few weeks. With voter registration drives in full swing on campus, students got word from the local registrar of elections that they could face consequences if they registered to vote in Blacksburg--they could lose residency-based scholarships, or their tax status could change--even though, according to the Supreme Court, students have the right to vote where they go to college...

On May 23rd 2008 the Democratic Party filed a lawsuit against the State of Georgia in Superior Court of Fulton County for requiring a photo ID in order to vote. In a parallel case, the party is suing in State court as well, based on the Georgia Constitution.
[...]
The complaint includes three main claims. First, it argues the act of showing a photographic identification from the State was not included in the Constitution of Georgia as a condition of voting.

Second, it argues such a requirement discriminates against Black voters, who as a whole tend to own fewer cars and have fewer pieces of photo identification than other Georgians.

Finally, it argues the law is retroactive and places an undue burden on the rights of Georgians to vote....

The McCain ad goes on to accuse ACORN of "massive voter fraud," saying the group is under investigation in 11 states "for thousands of potentially fraudulent ACORN (voter registration) forms."

To clarify again: ACORN has registered a stunning 1.3 million voters so far this year. (Not an insignificant fact in this story.) Most states require all voter applications, even ones with obvious mistakes, to be turned in to election officials. It is that record, flagged and submitted by ACORN, that the GOP attack ads are using. Flawed forms are flagged so they'll be thrown out. No matter what the GOP ads say, "massive voter fraud" has not been perpetrated - because "voter fraud" requires voting.

Hasen is the William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law at Loyola Law School. He said today: "So even if Mickey Mouse is registering, he is not showing up on election day to cast ballots, and so far as I am aware, there have been no cases of phony voter registrations leading to the casting of votes in any election that have been on any large scale -- much less affected the outcome of elections. So we should all agree that those who submit fraudulent voter registration forms should be punished criminally, but that such activity is not going to affect the outcome of the presidential election. ... But cries of voter fraud allow for harsh purging of voters from the rolls. Because of decentralization of election authority and a lack of administrative competence or will, the rolls are inaccurate in many states. Careless purging -- driven by unsubstantiated fears about voter fraud -- can lead to many eligible voters being incorrectly removed from the polls."