Right-wing voter fraud obsession leads to tens of criminal charges [Archive]

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chefcraig

10-27-2010, 02:16 PM

Right-wing voter fraud obsession leads to tens of criminal charges

Conservatives call for widespread intimidation of minority voters to solve a non-existent problem

Worrying about "voter fraud" is a convenient way for Republicans and conservatives to practice voter intimidation and old-fashioned suppression of minority voters without drawing as much negative attention as, say, an outright poll tax would. In truth, there is hardly any "voter fraud," and even if it was as rampant as they pretend, it wouldn't actually work., as Christopher Beam explains today. (http://www.slate.com/id/2272405/) (For it to swing an election, it would require the participation of a ridiculous number of people willing to commit a felony, including, in the fevered conservative imagination, illegal immigrants willing to risk deportation in order to support Harry Reid.)

The Bush administration dedicated itself to fighting this imaginary menace of voter fraud, either because conservatives have deluded themselves into believing it a legitimate problem or just to, again, throw minorities off voter rolls. But in five years they managed 86 convictions (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all), some of which were accidents and all of which were incredibly small-scale.

Conservatives have seized on the election of Al Franken as their own Bush v. Gore, except in this case the winner actually got more voters than the loser. But they can't accept that (Senator Al Franken!!), so they've spent years convincing themselves that they're one lawsuit or investigation away from proving that Franken's 312 vote margin of victory was based on voter fraud. The most extensive conservative investigation to date alleged that over a thousand fraudulent votes were cast. Except that in reality it was more like 205 (http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/07/14/pawlenty_felon_voting)instances of someone who might have been a felon maybe voting. (For whom? There's no way to know.)

Based on this group's exhaustive study, Hennepin County has charged 47 people with committing voter fraud (http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/minn_conservative_groups_voter_fraud_allegations_a bout_five_percent_accurate.php). 43 felons voted (many of them just didn't know that felons aren't allowed to vote) and four people double-voted.

Meanwhile psychotic hate-blogger Michelle Malkin is appearing on Fox to warn the old people that any time a Democrat wins an election, it is because thousands of illegal immigrant felons triple-voted for him or her. Malkin commands Fox viewers to declare themselves the "voter fraud police," (http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/michelle_malkin_we_are_all_voter_fraud_police_now. php)which means harassing people who look poor or foreign. (Why won't the Justice Department arrest the New Black Panthers who keep stealing elections, hmm?)

Should the Democrats maintain a slim majority in either legislative house, expect conservatives to blame fraud. Aided by, of course, the currently non-existent ACORN.

THE WAR ROOM (http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/10/27/voter_fraud_scam)

Jagermeister

10-27-2010, 03:37 PM

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/28/2010/october/27/residents-cry-foul-over-ballots.html

Residents cry foul over ballots
A petition was filed with the Board of Elections over absentee ballots.

SEE THE PETITIONS

A trio of Bucks County residents backed by the county Republican committee say they have evidence linking Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy's campaign to a scheme to flood the county voter registration office with fraudulent applications for absentee ballots.

In a petition filed Tuesday, county Republicans say the name of Murphy's campaign manager appeared on a Bristol post office box where voters were urged in a series of letters paid for by the state Democratic Committee to send absentee ballot applications.

The county Republicans submitted with the petition a photograph of a note inside the mailbox that said, "Tim Percico and Paul Hampel only pick up mail." Tim Persico is Murphy's campaign manager, although his name is misspelled in the note. Hampel is a volunteer for the Democratic state committee who said he collects mail from the box.

While county and state Democratic officials denied involvement in the letter campaign or refused to discuss it, Persico said Tuesday that the "PA Vote 2010" project that paid for the letters is a partnership between Murphy's campaign and the state Democrats.

Persico said the goal of the project is to help eligible Democratic voters obtain and cast absentee ballots.

He dismissed assertions by Republican critics that the letters were misleadingly worded and noted that the Democratic state committee clearly takes credit for the mailings, which comply with all election laws.

"The only reason the Republican Party is mad is working parents and college kids are sending in an application because they want to vote," Persico said.

Neither Murphy nor a spokeswoman for his campaign returned calls Tuesday.

Bucks County Democratic Party Chairman John Cordisco said the county Democratic organization has no connection to the letters or the fraud alleged in the petition. "If there was voter registration fraud, it was being done outside the Democratic organization," Cordisco said.

In response to the Republican petition, the Bucks County Board of Elections scheduled a hearing 9:30 a.m. Friday at the courthouse to hear evidence of what the Republicans characterize as a coordinated effort to trick voters into improperly applying for absentee ballots and efforts to submit fraudulent applications for absentee ballots.

"While some of these invalid applications have been caught and rejected by the Board of Elections, we believe many other defective and objectionable applications were inadvertently approved by the Board of Elections due to the pervasive nature of the fraud," the petition says.

The petition also asks county election officials to secure all completed absentee ballots at the courthouse in Doylestown until the board of elections can conduct an investigation of the claims.

The petition is signed by Kelly McGinty of Middletown, and Carlo and Lucy Grilletto of Plumstead. Bucks County Republican Party Vice Chairwoman Pat Poprik said party officials and volunteers have gathered evidence in support of the claims put forth in the petition. The signatories are people who have been involved in the Republican Party, she said.

"They're a group of people who are just disgusted with what's been going on," Poprik said. "God bless them, they came forward to do something about it."

The petition is the latest in a series of alarms county and state Republicans have sounded over an influx of questionable absentee ballot applications. Last week, Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said his office would investigate allegations of fraud leveled by state and county Republican officials.

Voter Registration Director Deena Dean said her staff had rejected more than 600 defective absentee ballot applications as of Friday. Although the voter registration office continued to accept applications until the close of business Tuesday, Dean was unable to provide an updated total.

The petition focused foremost on a series of letters voters in Bucks County began receiving some time after Labor Day. On letterhead of the fictitious Pennsylvania Voter Assistance Office, the mailings warned recipients that their right to participate in the Nov. 2 election might be in jeopardy if they failed to respond.

Advertisement The letters are signed by Frank S. Schultz, a Levittown resident who contributed $2,750 to Murphy's 2008 campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The letters included an absentee ballot application and a postage-paid envelope addressed to post office box 2172 at the Bristol Borough post office on Beaver Street. The petition includes a photo in which the note containing Persico's name is visible through the window of the post office box.

"The bogus letter seeks to trick voters into needlessly registering for absentee ballots and then, for reasons unknown, causes them to send those ballots to a post office box apparently controlled by the Democratic candidate for Congress," the petition says.

Poprik said the photograph was taken Monday by a volunteer for the county Republican committee who she declined to name. The photograph bears a date stamp of "08/06/2009," which Poprik said was the result of the camera being improperly set up.

"The applications then appear to be sent to a central processing location to be gathered, screened and held, as evidenced by the fact that the dates on numerous applications are dated several weeks before the application were received in the Board of Elections," the petition says.

Persico said the purpose of collecting the applications at a central location is to track who applied and ensure that they have received their ballots.

The petition also cites a widely circulated e-mail from the Murphy campaign that encourages affiliates to gather absentee ballot applications from infrequent voters.

Six Bucks County residents provided affidavits included in the petition in which they describe encounters with campaign workers who instructed them to complete absentee ballot applications when they did not plan to be out of town for the election or to sign the names of family members to obtain ballots for them.

One woman said that she received the Pennsylvania Voter Assistance Office letters and discarded them. "Nonetheless an absentee ballot was submitted in her name," the petition says.

Finally, the petition says the volume of rejected ballot applications suggests that additional incomplete and fraudulent applications have inadvertently passed through the board of elections screening process.

"More time is needed to test the veracity and reliability of those ballots already submitted to the Board of Elections," the petition says.

Bucks County Commissioner Chairman Charley Martin, who also chairs the board of elections, said he consulted the board's solicitor and believes that a hearing to consider the petitioners' evidence is appropriate.

Martin said the board will hear the evidence and take action to address any problems within its power.

"If it is not in the bailiwick of the board of elections then it will be for the district attorney to consider," Martin said.

Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, who is also a member of the board of elections, said she has questions whether the board of elections has authority under the election code to consider problems with absentee ballot applications. Marseglia also said she is not worried about the integrity of absentee ballots themselves.

Marseglia added that the controversy over absentee ballots involves two distinct issues - the matter of the misleading Democratic state committee letters and the question of whether forged applications are being submitted.

"I don't think the board of elections has any responsibility to deal with a political piece," she said. "We have a responsibility to deal with absentee ballots."

Murphy's Republican opponent Mike Fitzpatrick called the allegations very serious. He noted that he took an interest in the rejected ballot applications last week, but said the county Republican party has done all of the investigating.

"I think the allegations are very serious and the potential fraud upon the voters of this county is substantial," Fitzpatrick said.

Peter Hall can be reached at 215-345-3067 or phall@phillyBurbs.com

Jagermeister

10-27-2010, 03:39 PM

http://www.foxillinois.com/news/illinois/Lawmakers-May-Probe-Late-Military-Ballots-105831858.html

Lawmakers May Probe Late Military Ballots
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois may not be finished investigating those late military ballots.

Members of the House Elections Committee say they're considering formal hearings into how and why 36 counties missed the deadline to send ballots to deployed servicemen and other overseas voters.

State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, said there is clearly something wrong when one-third of local election offices miss a federal deadline to ensure soldiers and sailors have their votes counted.

"At least let's have some kind of inquiry…and let's review, find out what happened for sure, and then take steps to make sure it doesn't happen in the future."

Brady said over 2,800 ballots were sent out late, and it remains to be seen if those ballots will all be returned on time. And State Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Des Plaines, said that will be one of the deciding factors if lawmakers hold hearings or hold a more formal inquiry.

"The election authorities have two weeks after Election Day to get the ballots back, and still count them. And I'd like to see if the delay in sending out the ballots results in the ballots being delayed even after those two weeks."

The Illinois State Board of Elections and the U.S. Justice Department ordered local election offices in six counties to extend the final deadline for late ballots until Nov. 19. The two agencies also conducted their own investigation into why the counties missed the overseas ballot deadline. That probe did not blame or exonerate local election offices.

Nekritz said she's not interested in finding a scapegoat either.

"It's rarely my intention to hold a hearing for grand-standing purposes. I would like to have a legitimate inquiry into what happened and making sure that ballots get counted."

Brady adds that he's just looking for a solution, but thinks the legislature needs to send a serious message to local election officials that answers, and a full accounting, is expected.

"It may be something we need, subpoena power…that authority would need to be there. As opposed to an open invitation to come if you want to," said Brady

Nekrtiz said she couldn't remember the last time lawmakers subpoenaed someone to testify. Calls to both the State Board of Elections and local election officials for comment were not returned.

Brady has sent a letter to Nekritz, who heads the House Elections Committee, to formally request hearings during November's fall veto session. Nekrtiz said she would like to see the legislature open an inquiry, but thinks it may have to wait for a new General Assembly to be sworn-in in January.

Either way both lawmakers expect to see legislation next spring that is a response to the mistakes of this fall. Brady said there is some conflict between federal mandates, state law, and local budgets. He said the solution may be a stronger State Board of Elections.

"[The State Board] lacks the teeth of enforcement. In this area [the State Board] is not in a position to be able to fine or impose some type of penalty against a county clerk or election authority."

Nekrtiz expects action, and hopes for answers, but also said lawmakers are already looking at a massive to-do list for next spring that centers entirely on Illinois' dismal fiscal situation.

Jagermeister

10-27-2010, 03:42 PM