Possible Voter Fraud?

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Or should I say, MORE possible voter fraud? My local paper had this article recently: Is double voting a problem? No one's sure, but officials might try to find out..

Well, golly gee willikers. What a surprise! It's not like many of us have not been yelling this from the top of our lungs for MONTHS. Which is also why, not for nothing, many of us will never see Obama as legitimately elected. Heck - he wasn't even nominated legitimately - why should his election be any different? But I digress. Ahem. So, many of us have been writing, saying, talking about, the rampant voter registration fraud, and voter fraud that marred this election. It seems it may have occurred here, too:

As Charleston County's Board of Elections and Voter Registration recently discussed the Nov. 4 election, board member June Smith noted the heavy turnout of college voters and observed, "They could just as easily have voted here and voted absentee in their own state."

She's right, election officials say, but it's unclear how many, if any, did vote twice.

As states begin analyzing what changes would improve the voting process the next time around, they will decide if such duplicate voting is worthy of their attention.
(Previous Story: Registration rate for ages 18-24 double that of other age groups in S.C., published 10/12/08)

I'm sorry, WHAT?? They are trying to see if it is WORTH their attention?? When Georgia had over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND intrastate votes (FL and OH from GA), is it really possible that they wondered if it was "WORTH" it to pursue the matter? I dunno, but that kinda seems like an affront to our very democracy. Oh, and illegal. Whatever.

And speaking of duplications:

State Election Commission public information officer Chris Whitmire said he hasn't seen any recent analysis about duplicate voting, but two years ago, the state compared its voter registration rolls with those of Kentucky and Tennessee. It discovered about 14,000 South Carolina voters also were registered in one of those two states.

Of those, the state struck 5,659 from its rolls because their other registration appeared to be more current. It also sent a letter to them, and a handful wrote back that they needed to remain registered here, Whitmire said.

Kentucky later examined voter turnouts and discovered no one had voted there and in another state, according to Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson's office.

"Just because we have not seen this type of fraud in previous elections does not mean we should rest on our laurels," Grayson said at the time. "We will be looking for other voter fraud prevention techniques, as well as other states with which we can compare data."

Were you people REALLY not paying attention to ANYTHING that went on this year??? Does the name ACORN ring a bell?? Maybe you could take a little look-see at ACORN for rampant voter registration fraud, which resulted in ACORN being investigated in over 16 states (including South Carolina). That might just give you a little clue into possible "prevention" areas. I'll spell it out for you: voter registration fraud, and voting in two states. Just a suggestion.

As a little reminder, check out some of the shenanigans of ACORN:



But hey - they are being really proactive:

This week, Grayson said Kentucky would continue to compare its most recent list of voters with lists from neighboring states, particularly the presidential battleground states of Ohio and Indiana.

Grayson said he became interested in the duplicate voting issue a few years ago after his parents offhandedly suggested that they could vote for him. This was after they moved from Kentucky to South Carolina.

"I said, 'Wait a minute. You're a South Carolina resident. You can't vote for me. It would look really bad,'" he said. "I saw that they could have, if they wanted to, voted and probably would have gotten away with it."

Well, that's just jake! The Kentucky Secretary of State just acknowledged that there is pretty much a voting free-for-all. You can now vote in more than one state at the same time! Whee!!! Or maybe it is because it does not seem to be a problem everywhere:

Even though Kentucky didn't find any case of duplicate voting, Grayson said it's still a good idea to check with other states because dead weight on the voting rolls creates a potential for fraud and because both campaigns and states want the lists as accurate as possible.

All I can say is, I would certainly hope so! Sheesh, that seems like the LEAST they can do!

Now, the following I found to be of interest, and would love to see their data, how they obtained it, and what their methodology was:

That no duplicate voting was uncovered is not necessarily surprising.

A national 2007 study of election fraud done by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law concluded that double voting is rare.

"The scarcity (of double voting) is expected, given the severity of the penalty (criminal prosecution) and the meager nature of the payoff (one incremental vote)," its report, titled "The Truth About Voter Fraud," said.

And it makes me question their conclusion. Do they think the 100,000 over-votes from GA, just GA, not even including the documented cases from, say, OH, don't blow their conclusion out of the water? Then again, their report was SO 2007 - and from the Pre-Obama days, so hey - they may have been right then. Doesn't seem so right now, though - maybe they want to re-do their study and include 2008? Just a thought.

Especially because of this next point:

Grayson said some in Congress are asking if the federal government should help out.

"Some people are asking the question should we go to a national system?" he said. "We're probably in the 'Is there a problem stage?' and it may be that there's not a solution to this."

Whitmire said South Carolina has considered joining with Georgia and North Carolina to compare registration lists and voter turnout, but the idea never got beyond the discussion stage.

In Georgia's case, attorneys advised the state not to participate because of a pending lawsuit involving Social Security numbers.

"The voter registration system is not Fort Knox," Whitmire said. "Someone who wants to commit voter fraud could probably do it."

"Some people may feel in their mind they should be allowed to vote in more than one place," he added. "If there is a risk for being caught and prosecuted for that crime, you would weigh that against casting one vote in another state for president. Is it worth the risk? I would say no. I hope most people would think the same way."

Reach Robert Behre at 937-5771 or at rbehre@postandcourier.com.

Sadly, in this past election, many people thought it was worth the risk. But what I find most troubling is this quote:

"Someone who wants to commit voter fraud could probably do it.

"Some people may feel in their mind they should be allowed to vote in more than one place," he added.

Is he kidding me? Again, was he out of the planet during the course of this past election?? We saw rampant, MASSIVE, caucus fraud, in state after state after state (and explored in depth in the "We Will Not Be Silenced" documentary). We had freakin' Marshall scholars ADMITTING to voting in two states. Oh, they admitted it from England - a bit far from the arm of the law. And their wealthy parents paid for wealthy attorneys, so they got off with a slap of the wrist. US Justice at work.

All of that is to say, I do not know in which universe Whitmire and Grayson live, but it sure isn't the same one many of us endured this year. Because I tell you what, those thugs who bullied women in caucuses, as well as intimidated people from voting at all, and those who faked registrations do not seem like the type to worry all that much about duplicate voting. Hey, don't take my word for it, take this guy's:



And his:



So, yeah - I think it is time to take a little closer look at duplicate voting, and trying to ensure it does not happen - AGAIN. Oh, and intimidation and caucus fraud while you are at it. Just looking out for you, Mr. Grayson and Mr. Whitmire. And the rest of Americans who care about democracy.