Brunner v. Ohio Republican Party

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) required that state officials cooperate in creating a database through which voter-registration information could be compared with the state’s motor vehicle authority to verify voter-registration application information. In Ohio, the HAVA was implemented by the secretary of state and head of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) matching the information in the BMV database with information in the Statewide Voter Registration Database. The policy of the Ohio secretary of state was that when information could not be matched through the databases, relevant county boards of election would be notified and advised that the voter record must be updated. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (defendant) and her office stopped providing lists of voter-registration applications that failed to match county election board records. The Ohio Republican Party (ORP) (plaintiff) filed a lawsuit alleging that Brunner’s failure to provide the voter-registration information to county election officials violated the HAVA. The district court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Brunner. Brunner appealed, requesting a stay of the TRO. A panel of judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated the TRO. ORP requested the case be heard en banc. The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reinstated the district court’s TRO. Brunner filed an application to stay the TRO with Justice Stevens.