The Hamilton County Democratic Party is criticizing Hamilton County Commissioners for voting unanimously on August 14th to abolish the Hamilton County Board of Voter Registration.  The action moves the board’s responsibilities to the Hamilton County Clerk’s office.

The party news release quotes Hamilton County Clerk Tammy Baitz as saying nothing will change in the administration of elections as a result of this action.

“While she has said nothing will change, I fear this is the start of a long term effort to limit voters in the county,” said Democratic County Chairman Joe Weingarten in the news release. “What worries me the most is that a new Clerk could remove the Democratic workers and starts a process of voter intimidation and efforts to limit certain voters in a partisan way, or even to start to remove voters from the rolls on a partisan basis”.

County Democrats argue that this action may be an effort at voter suppression due to the 5% increase in the number of Democrats receiving votes in the last county election.

County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt says Commissioner Steve Dillinger made this recommendation in his capacity as adviser to the Personnel Committee after discussions with attorney Mike Howard.  The recommendation was to put county employees under the supervision of the County Clerk as opposed to the board.