In 2004, the Columbus Dispatch reported just days before the Bush/Kerry presidential election that two local Al-Qaeda terrorists, Iyman Faris and Nuradin Abdi, were still registered to vote in the state of Ohio.

Following that revelation, Democrats and moonbats nationwide pointed to this as conclusive proof that then-Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, a Republican, and his office were hopelessly corrupt and trying to rig the election for George W. Bush.

What will they have to say now that one of Faris and Abdi’s partners in terror, Christopher Paul, who pled guilty this past June to conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction against targets in the Europe and the US, is still registered to vote? (See the Statement of Facts Paul agreed to in the case.)

Will the fact that the present Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, is a Democrat now temper their outrage?

And will the fact that Christopher Paul has yet to be sentenced mean that he may still legally get to pull the lever (or more accurately, submit his absentee ballot) for his man, Barack Obama, for President. Paul might also have a chance to help out his lady, Mary Jo Kilroy, get to Congress in the Ohio 15th – one of the few competitive congressional races in the country.

A quick check with the Franklin County Board of Elections finds that Paul is still registered to vote. His registration also appears on a search of the Ohio Secretary of State website.

I spoke with Ben Piscitelli at the Franklin County Board of Elections and asked about the process of removing felons from the voter roles. Piscitelli responded:

In such instances, a court will notify us of a felony conviction about one month after sentencing. We will remove the name of the voter in question immediately thereafter.

As noted above, the problem of having some of our local Al-Qaeda terrorists on the voting rolls is nothing new for the State of Ohio. In late October 2004, Jon Craig of the Dispatch reported:

A dirty tale of duplications, even terrorists, on voter lists

Ohio’s voter-registration rolls are dirty, containing more than 122,000 apparent duplicates as well as the names of people who moved out of state in the 1990s, a local murder victim and even a pair of accused terrorists.

Among supposedly eligible voters in Franklin County are suspected terrorists arrested for alleged plots to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge and a local shopping mall. As an imprisoned felon, one is ineligible to vote. The other, from Somalia, is not a U.S. citizen and thus broke state and federal laws when he registered in 1999, officials said. . .

“That’s really disturbing,” said Ohio State University law professor Terri Enns. “There certainly are potential problems, but there are a lot of (Election Day) safeguards to keep it from swaying the election.”

Accused terrorists Nuradin Abdi, 32, and Iyman Faris, 35, are registered to vote in Ohio. An indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in June said Somali immigrant Abdi and admitted al-Qaida member Faris plotted with a third Columbus man to attack a mall.

Fred Alverson, a spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department, said Abdi’s false registration may violate state and federal law. In fact, the application he signed — swearing he is a U.S. citizen — notes that election falsification is punishable by up to six months in prison, a fine of $1,000 or both.

Faris, a Columbus truck driver, is serving a 20-year sentence after admitting that he scouted the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and other potential targets for al-Qaida as recently as March 2003. As an incarcerated felon, he will not be allowed to vote. Faris, from Kashmir, became a naturalized citizen in 1999. (“Long Gone But Still Registered”, Columbus Dispatch, October 24, 2004)

Faris and Abdi were not eligible to vote in the 2004 election because Faris had already been sentenced (though was still on the rolls); and even though Abdi had only been indicted at that time, he had falsely claimed to be a US citizen when he registered and thus was ineligible (though he too was on the voter rolls).

But in Christopher Paul’s case, he’s a natural born US citizen; and even though he has admitted his role in the local Al-Qaeda cell (of which only three members have been charged and at least 10 others are known to have been involved) and pled guilty, since he hasn’t been sentenced he may not lose his voting rights until after the election.

Some of our local Islamic leaders will have no problem with Christopher Paul voting since they have publicly declared him innocent even after his guilty plea. But since Democrats are desperate for every vote in the State of Ohio, and Mary Jo Kilroy lost by just over 1,000 votes in 2006, how quickly do you think that Secretary Brunner and fellow Ohio Democrats will move to address this issue? In the absence of sentencing by the court he may be legally eligible to vote in the upcoming election.