And not just because of the constant Debt Ceiling discussion. It is amazing - I was out of the country for five days, and I swear, there has been very little real movement. Even now, a resolution is being touted, but nothing has been PASSED. Just another pesky little detail, right?
Anyway, I don't think it is just the Debt talk that kept this little news story out of the major headlines: "Mississippi NAACP Leader Sent To Prison For 10 Counts Of Voter Fraud." Have you heard about this? No, I didn't think so:
While NAACP President Benjamin Jealous lashed out at new state laws requiring photo ID for voting, an NAACP executive sits in prison, sentenced for carrying out a massive voter fraud scheme.
In a story ignored by the national media, in April a Tunica County, Miss., jury convicted NAACP official Lessadolla Sowers on 10 counts of fraudulently casting absentee ballots. Sowers is identified on an NAACP website as a member of the Tunica County NAACP
Executive Committee.
Sowers received a five-year prison term for each of the 10 counts, but Circuit Court Judge Charles Webster permitted Sowers to serve those terms concurrently, according to the Tunica Times, the only media outlet to cover the sentencing.
“This crime cuts against the fabric of our free society,” Judge Webster said.[snip]
No kidding, it does. I still do not get the whole brouhaha about wanting people to show evidence of who they are - we have to do it for far lesser reasons all of the time in this country. That just seems to be a red herring to me, and one that clearly is meant to hide stories like this one. It seems to take a lot to prove actual voter fraud, and that this woman was found guilty of 10 counts is mighty telling.
And it isn't the first time:
[snip] The NAACP has had other problems with voter fraud. The NAACP National Voter Fund registered a dead man to vote in Lake County, Ohio, in 2004. That same year, out of 325 voter registration cards filed by the NAACP in Cleveland, 48 were flagged as fraudulent.
But the NAACP’s voter fraud record doesn’t approach that of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. At least 54 individuals employed by or associated with ACORN have been convicted of voter fraud.
Voter fraud, sometimes called electoral fraud, is a blanket term used by lawyers that encompasses a host of election-related improprieties including fraudulent voting, voter registration fraud, perjury, forgery, counterfeiting, impersonation, intimidation, and identity fraud.
I have written extensively about ACORN, and all of their attempts to throw an election. I think just about all of the different ways to commit fraud above would fit ACORN. It has been systemic, and systematic. People have been convicted here and there, but the organization itself seemed to slip by. Until now:
And ACORN, which filed for bankruptcy last November, was itself convicted of voter fraud in Nevada in April. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 10 in Las Vegas. ACORN was also banished from Ohio in 2010 when it settled a state racketeering filed against it by the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, a project of the Buckeye Institute. Under the settlement ACORN, which is now reorganizing its state chapters under different names, agreed never to return to the state. [snip]
Uh, yeah. Given that ACORN is restructuring under different names, someone better stay on their toes to make sure they don't slip back into Nevada, especially considering their good buddy and protector, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid. Just saying'.
But here is what I don't get:
Election experts say voter fraud is fairly common, but progressive activists typically insist that the crime is virtually nonexistent. Republicans, they say, routinely exaggerate claims of voter fraud in order to whip their political base into a frenzy and push for voter ID laws. Liberals say such laws are unfair, and claim that they discourage minorities and the poor from voting.
[...]
Stephen Colbert, the liberal comedian who portrays an overbearing conservative Republican on his cable TV show “The Colbert Report,” broadcast a segment this week ridiculing Republicans for treating voter fraud as a serious problem.
Some Democrats, however, aren’t laughing. The office of District Attorney Brenda F. Mitchell, a registered Democrat who serves Mississippi’s 11th Circuit Court District, successfully prosecuted Sowers. Mitchell was appointed to the post by Republican Gov. Haley Barbour in January 2010 after the previous DA resigned. She’s now seeking the Democratic nomination for the office in a primary election scheduled for Aug. 2.
District Attorney Mitchell isn't the only one:
[snip] U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, is also no conservative. But she won a conviction against Joshua Reed for voter registration fraud in 2004 when she was the Hennepin County, Minn. Prosecutor.
“It was very important for the public integrity of our electoral system that somebody, if they do something like this, gets charged, gets convicted and gets consequences,” Klobuchar said at the time. (Click here to read the rest.)
I could not agree with Senator Klobuchar more. Our right to vote is sacred, and should be treated as such. And, those who violate that sacred trust deserve to be brought to justice. We need them to be so that we can have full faith and confidence that our elected officials were duly elected. At least this past one, that did not seem to be the case for a host of reasons, mainly surrounding ACORN, and the entire nominating process.
This is good news, even if you haven't heard about it - justice was meted out to both Ms. Sowers, and to ACORN. That's a start. Hopefully, the powers that be will be more vigilant in ensuring this does not happen again, and if it does, to bring the perpetrators to account swiftly. Our system deserves nothing less... Copyright © 2011 by Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy
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