Jennifer Brunner
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Jennifer Lee Brunner (born February 5, 1957) is an American politician of the Democratic Party who currently serves as the Ohio Secretary of State.
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[edit] Career
Brunner previously worked in the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office as a deputy director and legislative counsel to the Ohio General Assembly during the administration of Sherrod Brown. She then began a statewide law practice focusing on election law. In 2000, Brunner was elected to an unexpired term on the Franklin County Common Pleas Court and reelected in 2002. She resigned from the Court on September 1, 2005, to run for Secretary of State. On November 7, 2006, she defeated Republican Greg Hartmann in the 2006 general election and took office on January 8, 2007.
In January, Brunner proposed a plan that would allow counties to recruit poll workers by mail, who would then undertake two paid training days, and work a paid eight-hour shift at the polls on election day.[1] Brunner explained the plan in an interview:
"In terms of Ohio and what happened in the 2004 presidential election, there has been a crisis in confidence in our election system in Ohio, both nationally and in our state. One of the quickest ways to repair that is to make sure that we have adequate numbers of poll workers. ... We suggested this as one tool that the boards of elections would have available to them for recruiting poll workers. We would be looking to do this similar to how we recruit jurors, only jurors are recruited for two weeks of service whereas we'd only be asking for three days. It would also allow us to offer split shifts to poll workers. In Ohio the polling places are open for thirteen hours, so essentially a poll worker works at least fourteen hours; with the average age of our poll workers at 72, that's a tough day for anyone, no matter what their age is. ... It's an option, and we can even include a trigger, so that a county has to be deficient by a certain percentage of poll workers to even be able to use this."[2]
In the initial proposal it was not yet decided what wages would be paid, and whether refusing recruitment would result in penalties. The proposal will be decided by the Ohio General Assembly.[1]
[edit] Family life
Brunner is a resident of Columbus, Ohio. She and her husband Rick have been married 28 years and have three adult children.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Ohio considers poll worker draft", Associated Press and WSTM, 2007-01-28. Retrieved on March 21, 2007.
- ^ Block, Melissa. "Ohio Considers a Draft System for Poll Workers" (audio interview), All Things Considered, National Public Radio, 2007-01-30. Retrieved on March 21, 2007.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Ken Blackwell |
Ohio Secretary of State 2007- |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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