Archive for the ‘Voter Fraud’ Category

When Hillary Clinton went on her dishonest rant about Republicans suppressing the vote in a speech at Texas Southern University, she verified that she was just another Democrat demagogue on the issue of race. Scott Walker is the latest GOP presidential candidate to expose her dishonesty:

Potential Republican presidential candidate and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker knocked Hillary Clinton for being “firmly out of touch” on the issue of voting rights just days after the former secretary of state announced her proposals championing minority access to voting.

“In our state we have a photo ID requirement that would make it easy to vote and hard to cheat,” Walker told reporters Saturday at Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s Roast and Ride event. “And I think that’s a good example where her statements of late show that she’s firmly out of touch with I think where mainstream America is.”

When asked by a reporter about universal voter registration for the state of Wisconsin, Walker shrugged and shook his head, pointing instead to Wisconsin’s turnout records. “From our standpoint, we think we’ve got one of the most effective systems right now where we have one of the highest levels of voter participation,” Walker said. “We’ve got a pretty good system.”

Here’s what Hillary said at Texas Southern:

“Today, Republicans are systematically and deliberately trying to stop millions of American citizens from voting,” Clinton said Thursday at Texas Southern University in Houston, a historically black college. “What part of democracy are they afraid of?”

Folks, that’s demagoguery that only a Clinton or an Obama would have the chutzpah to say in public. If you wanted to be totally blunt about it, Hillary’s statement was an outright lie. Hillary knows that Republicans aren’t “systematically and deliberately trying to stop millions of American citizens from voting.” Here’s why she knows:

In the 2012 general election, Wisconsin had the second-highest voter-turnout rate in the nation with 73 percent of the population participating. The state trailed just behind Minnesota, which had a 76 percent turnout rate. Wisconsin also ranked second in the nation during the 2008 general election.

It’s amazing that Wisconsin’s voter participation rate was significantly higher than New York’s participation rate. According to this interactive website, Wisconsin’s participation rate in 2014 was 56.2%. New York’s was 28.2%. In 2012, New York’s participation rate was 53%. Wisconsin’s participation rate was 73%. In 2008, New York’s participation rate was 59% while Wisconsin’s participation rate was 72.4%.

In other words, Hillary is taking cheapshots at Wisconsin while New York’s participation rate was 20 points worse. It isn’t fair to say, though, that New York is “systematically and deliberately trying to stop millions of American citizens from voting” though it’s fair to say that Hillary isn’t really interested in increasing voter participation. She’s only interested in making sure minority voters turn out in 2016. Without them, she’s toast.

Technorati: Hillary Clinton, Texas Southern University, Voter Suppression, Minority Vote, Demagoguery, Democrats, Scott Walker, Voter Participation, Republicans, Election 2016

Donna Brazile is a skilled Democratic propagandist. This article is proof of that. Check this out:

While a great deal of progress has been made over the years, today, we face new challenges to those who are eligible to vote, and some of the leading culprits of erecting barriers are running for president.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Republicans are imposing new restrictions on the right to vote, restrictions that disproportionally affect African-Americans, Latinos, working Americans, seniors and America’s youth, the very groups the Voting Rights Act was formed to protect.

Actually, voting has never been easier. The poll tax is a thing of the past. More voting stations mean people have a place to vote closer to their homes. The only restriction that’s new, relatively speaking, is photo ID. That isn’t the only consideration worth consideration. Former Justice John Paul Stevens, writing the majority opinion in the Crawford v. Marion County Board of Elections lawsuit, wrote this:

“There is no evidence of extensive fraud in U. S. elections or of multiple voting, but both occur, and it could affect the outcome of a close election. The electoral system cannot inspire public confidence if no safeguards exist to deter or detect fraud or to confirm the identity of voters. Photo identification cards currently are needed to board a plane, enter federal buildings, and cash a check. Voting is equally important.”

Justice Stevens isn’t an archconservative. He said that election integrity is just as important as making voting easy. In his majority opinion, Justice Stevens cited how many routine activities require photo identification.

The myth that Democrats try to spread is that this is an unjust burden on minorities and the elderly. What they’re saying is that minorities and the elderly don’t have access to airports, cashing checks, buying certain types of over the counter medicines or entering federal buildings. That’s flimsier than a flimsy argument. Here’s another Democrat canard:

That’s the fundamental difference between Democrats and the current GOP presidential field. As Democrats, we believe in the right of every eligible citizen to vote and have that vote counted; we are fighting to expand and protect the right to vote, while Republicans are doing just the opposite.

That’s plain BS. Republicans want every eligible citizen to vote. It’s just that we’re committed to making sure that people that aren’t eligible to vote can’t vote. Democrats aren’t committed to preventing voter disenfranchisement. That isn’t propaganda. That’s what Artur Davis witnessed firsthand:

I’ve changed my mind on voter ID laws; I think Alabama did the right thing in passing one; and I wish I had gotten it right when I was in political office.

When I was a congressman, I took the path of least resistance on this subject for an African American politician. Without any evidence to back it up, I lapsed into the rhetoric of various partisans and activists who contend that requiring photo identification to vote is a suppression tactic aimed at thwarting black voter participation.

The truth is that the most aggressive contemporary voter suppression in the African American community, at least in Alabama, is the wholesale manufacture of ballots, at the polls and absentee, in parts of the Black Belt.

Voting the names of the dead, and the nonexistent, and the too-mentally-impaired to function, cancels out the votes of citizens who are exercising their rights; that’s suppression by any light. If you doubt it exists, I don’t; I’ve heard the peddlers of these ballots brag about it, I’ve been asked to provide the funds for it, and I am confident it has changed at least a few close local election results.

Hillary’s speech at Texas Southern was given in an arena that was one-fourth full. Hillary knows that she’ll lose badly if she doesn’t have a large turnout in the minority community. Democrats always play the ‘Republicans are trying to stop you from voting’ card because it’s their only way of ramping up the turnout.

Last night, I watched the Almanac Roundtable debate featuring the candidates for Secretary of State. The lasting impression I left with was straightforward. Steve Simon is Mark Ritchie in an expensive suit. He’s thoroughly indoctrinated in liberal ideology with regards to voting fraud. The other thing about him is that he apparently thinks voters are incredibly stupid.

Let’s take that last one first. After Dan Severson highlighted the vulnerabilities of Minnesota’s election system, Rep. Simon replied, saying “Would Minnesota have the highest voter turnout rate in the nation if people didn’t trust it?” That’s a nice-sounding answer but it doesn’t have anything to do with whether the system is secure. The fact that Democrats continually talk about Minnesota’s election system as the nation’s gold standard is because they don’t want people checking out the details of whether the system is fraught with vulnerabilities.

Rep. Simon’s answer totally ignores the vulnerabilities in Minnesota’s voting system. I know more than a little about this since I wrote a series of articles highlighting those vulnerabilities. (See here, here, here and here.)

Part IV is particularly disturbing because it shows how protective the election machine is of their system:

Thanks to KSTP-TV’s reporting, we learned that cities threw “up legal roadblocks” to their investigation. We learned that Bloomington “even suggested that felony charges could be pursued against” KSTP-TV if they “reported what [they] found.”

A system that’s the gold standard for election participation shouldn’t threaten people examining the system. They especially shouldn’t threaten reporters investigating Minnesota’s election system. The thought that they’d throw up legal roadblocks and suggest that they’d file felony charges against KSTP’s reporters strongly suggests that Minnesota’s election system is anything but impervious to voter fraud.

The DFL says that there’s little proof of fraud existing. That isn’t true but let’s say it is. The video shows that there’s a number of vulnerabilities in the absentee ballot system. Why wouldn’t we want to eliminate those vulnerabilities?

Another of the DFL’s chanting points is that we should want high voter participation rates. That sounds nice but it comes with a catch. The insinuation always comes with the suggestion that everyone who requests a ballot should get a ballot. There’s never a mention that this should be done within the context of the requirements in Minnesota’s constitution.

Steve Simon doesn’t have Mark Ritchie’s history of corruption. Still, Simon is nothing if not a puppet doing the same things Mark Ritchie did. That’s a step sideways after a major step backwards in 2006. We don’t need Mark Ritchie in a better suit. We need a man of integrity who won’t blindly incorporate the DFL’s chanting points into Minnesota state statutes.

Technorati: Steve Simon, Mark Ritchie, Election Laws, Corruption, DFL, Dan Severson, Project Veritas, Investigation, Intimidation, KSTP, MNGOP, Election 2014

According to this article, the DFL, specifically Phyllis Kahn’s attorney, is admittig that voter fraud exists:

And that same day, Kahn campaign attorney Brian Rice filed a petition with Hennepin County calling into question the voter registrations of about 140 people at a single address in the Minneapolis district. Hennepin County officials are preparing to perform an inquiry based on allegations in the petition.

According to the document, which provides a list of people who have registered their residence as 419 Cedar Avenue South in Minneapolis, that address is a mailbox facility. Apartments above the building that make up multiple addresses don’t contain any of the same names in their registry as those who are registered to vote at the address. It is illegal under Minnesota law for voters to cast a ballot outside of the districts they live in, and a voter registration must include a person’s place of residence as the listed address. “People have to be registered where they live, and you can’t live in a mailbox,” Rice said in an interview with Capitol Report. “You can’t register out of a mailbox and vote in Minnesota.”

This is delicious irony. For years, DFL demagogues insisted that voter fraud didn’t exist. They’d insist that Minneosta’s electio system was the gold standard for the nation. They’d insist that the recounts were proof of Minnesota’s great system.

Now that its ox that’s getting gored, however, the DFL is admitting that voter fraud exists. Brian Rice is right about the law. The people that registered to vote with this address are ineligible to vote. Period. The law is exceptioally clear. I say this without knowing how many of these registrants voted for Phyllis Kahn or Mohamud Noor. I say this without knowing what the outcome of the primary will be.

It’s irrelevant becaues the law is pretty straightforward. It isn’t ambiguous. It’s fair. If a candidate can’t win by obeying the rules, they don’t deserve to win.

This incident is proof that the DFL a) knew voter fraud existed, b) didn’t mind voter fraud as long as Republicans were the ones getting hurt and c) didn’t hesitate in lying in 2012 about the Photo ID amendment on the Minnesota ballot.

Now that we have proof positive that voter fraud exists and it’s hurting a DFL candidate, will the DFL finally admit that we need to tighten up our voting requirements? I’m betting against it. The DFL benefits from voter fraud more than it’s hurt by it. The only thing that’ll change things is if voters get fed up with voter fraud and elect legislators and a governor who support election reform.

That won’t happen with the DFL controlling the House or the Senate or if there’s a Democrat as governor. They’re the party that benefits from voter fraud. They’re corrupt enough to care only about winning. They’re the party that doesn’t care about disenfranchising legal voters.

That won’t change anytime soon.

Technorati: Phyllis Kahn, Mohamud Noor, DFL Primary, Voter Fraud, Election 2014

Minnesotans haven’t seen this many political surprise ever. First, Michele Bachmann announced she isn’t running for re-election. Within days, Jim Graves, her announced opponent, announced he isn’t running. Yesterday, Mark Ritchie announced that he isn’t seeking re-election:

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election to a third term in 2014.

“This is the right decision for me and my family right now,” said Ritchie, 61. “When I did the math, if I would be honored by being re-elected, I would be closer to 70 than 65” after completing another term.

The Mark Ritchie Era is thankfully coming to a close. Ritchie fought against voter integrity most of his time in office. He refused to admit reality, which is that Minnesota’s election system isn’t the gold standard anymore. He fought against his own party on election integrity.

There’s sure to be a stampede to replace Ritchie. It’ll be interesting to see who emerges as the parties’ frontrunners.

According to the Secretary of State’s website, 94.25% of registered voters voted in the presidential race. Actually, that isn’t right. With 4046 of 4102 precincts reporting, 94.25% of Minnesota’s registered voters had voted in the presidential election.

That means a voter participation rate of over 96%.

If that seems steep, that’s pathetic compared with the voter participation rate in Hennepin County, where 674,159 of the county’s 678,074 voters voted. That’s a VPR of 99.4%.

Still, that’s nothing compared with the most ‘civic-minded’ county in Minnesota. In Ramsey County, 278,821 of the county’s 279,513 registered voters voted. That’s a VPR of 99.75%.

St. Louis County is relatively apathetic, with ‘only’ 115,620 of their 122,755 voters voting this year. That’s a VPR of 94.19%. Dakota County had a VPR of 96.1%.

Does anyone seriously think that 4 major metro counties had voter participation rates over 94%? Does anyone seriously think that a statewide presidential race would trigger a voter partipation rate of more than 96%?

I’m betting against it.

This editorial by the Pioneer Press’s editorial board took the DFL spinmeisters to the woodshed. Their editorial wasn’t filled with platitudes. It was filled with thoughtful arguments and verified statistics. Here’s one example of the Pi-Press’s logic:

Opponents of the Voter ID amendment raise any number of objections, none more frequent than this sound bite: “It’s a solution in search of a problem.” Clever, but perhaps too clever. Because of the nature of the process, it’s very difficult to assess the current size of the problem, much less how large it might become.

Remember, in Minnesota anybody can simply show up at the polls and vote, whether they have previously registered or not. They “register” on the spot with as little documentation as an old ID and an invoice with an address on it. In 2008, roughly 500,000 people (!) showed up and voted after registering on the spot. That number of same-day registrants represents nearly 20 percent of the votes cast. No one knows how many of these votes may have been ineligible. A recent video from the state of Virginia records the son of a politician explaining how to cast votes by using fake documents such as water bills.

This isn’t advocating for the elimination of EDR (Election Day Registration). I’m just advocating for tightening up the process so that it’s verifiably reliable throughout Minnesota. It’s apparent that a problem exists, which the Pi-Press gets into here:

Without an ID, there is no way to verify even the most elementary things such as citizenship. Post-election, more than 6,000 of the addresses given by these same-day-registrant voters came back as undeliverable in a routine postal check. Even if the legwork was done to determine which if any of those votes were ineligible, the votes themselves could not be un-counted.

There’s no way this can be attributed to sloppiness on the person using EDR or to data entry mistakes. That’s 12 ‘mistakes’ per 1,000 new EDR registrations. I’m betting the error rate on new registrations done before the deadline isn’t anything close to this rate.

After all, why would people registering on Election Day make more mistakes? Certainly, the people should learn their address before voting. Why would data entry operators be more prone to making mistakes on Election Day registrations? Keyboards didn’t suddenly get changed right before entering the EDRs.

This argument is especially effective in a fight against DFL activists:

The other objections to the amendment are less central. Opponents say it will be expensive. To which the supporters note that the opponents are always eager to spend unless and until it comes time to tighten up the voting process. Not to mention that if the state is so backward that it cannot efficiently administer something as ordinary and universal as Photo ID verification, it’s high time it upped its game.

I wrote here that Gov. Dayton complained about this program costing “maybe $100 million.” That figure isn’t anything that people testified to under oath during a hearing. It’s fiction. It’s being used to frighten seniors and college students into voting against the bill.

How many college students don’t drink alcoholic beverages? How many college students don’t drive? How many college students don’t buy Sudafed? How many students stay in the midwest rather than fly to Florida for spring break? There can’t be many that fit into all of those categories. The point is that each of those situations require showing a photo ID.

That isn’t the final clincher on the subject. Let’s assume there’s a major population of people that don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t use Sudafed, don’t fly to spring break and don’t drive. Are we then supposed to assume that this population of people can’t get a photo ID? Simply put, this argument is flimsy at best.

Finally, there’s this red herring argument:

It may be worth remembering, in the fog of the debate, that generally speaking those who oppose the amendment would still oppose it even if it cost the state nothing and exempted absentee ballots. The arguments brought to bear by the opponents are simply tools, incidentals, used to defeat an amendment that they fundamentally oppose in all its forms. Plain and simple, they are against using Photo ID in the election process. Opponents are not saying that they are for it as implemented by some other state, just not as it has been drawn up in this particular amendment. They are against the very concept, regardless of the particulars.

This is fact. Democrats have opposed Photo ID in every state where it’s been implemented.

The tactics don’t vary. The statistics are routinely rejected by judges that require proof of wrongdoing. To this day, no political party has found a person who could testify that they couldn’t get photographic identification.

In Minnesota, the DFL has tried everything in their deception bag of tricks to derail the Photo ID constitutional amendment. Tuesday, the people will pass the photo ID constitutional amendment. After that, the DFL and their allies will file lawsuits to thwart the will of the people.

When the DFL and their allies file those lawsuits, I’ll be waiting to write about how the DFL isn’t interested in doing the will of the people. Then I’ll remind people that the DFL is perfectly willing to ignore the will of the people before the next election.

Tags: Constitutional Amendments, Election Day Registration, Seniors, Students, Minorities, Fearmongering, Mark Dayton, Lawsuits, ACLU-MN, Common Cause MN, League of Women Voters-MN, DFL, Voter Fraud, Election 2012

The FBI has started an investigation into a voting scam in Florida:

TAMPA, Fla. - The FBI is joining an investigation into bogus letters sent to many Florida residents, including the Republican Party of Florida chairman, that raise questions about their eligibility to vote.

FBI officials said Wednesday the FBI will focus on letters received by voters in 18 counties in central and southwest Florida.

According to the Republican Party of Florida, Chairman Lenny Curry received one of the fake letters on Tuesday.

“This type of activity is not only disgusting, it is criminal, and must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Curry said in a release. “I call on Florida Democrats to join me in condemning this false letter writing campaign that appears to target likely voters in Florida, and help RPOF get the word out about this false campaign.”

Local 6 first reported the bogus letter scam on Monday, which claim to be from county supervisors of elections but are postmarked from Seattle. They raise questions about the voter’s citizenship and appear intended to intimidate people.

The FBI says voters who get a letter should contact their supervisor of elections and then keep the letter for the FBI.

Patrick Moran, the son of Virginia Congressman Jim Moran, needs a lawyer:

At the time this video was taken, Patrick Moran served as the field director for his dad’s campaign. He’s since resigned. In the video, Patrick Moran explained to a Project Veritas investigator how to commit voter fraud in Virginia.

Tags: Voter Fraud, Florida, Virginia, FBI, Project Veritas, Patrick Moran, Jim Moran, Anti-Semite, Corruption, Investigations, Forgeries, Utility Bills, Democrats, Election 2012

Kevin Lindsey, Gov. Dayton’s Human Rights Commissioner, visited the SCSU campus to campaign against the proposed Photo ID constitutional amendment:

Commissioner Kevin Lindsey, the top human-rights official in Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration, spoke to St. Cloud State University students at a forum sponsored by a host of university groups.

Like Dayton, an outspoken foe of the voter ID amendment, Lindsey urged students to oppose the measure, which would join the state Constitution if endorsed by voters on Nov. 6. In addition to requiring voters to show photo IDs, the amendment would trigger other changes to voting laws such as the elimination of vouching, in which a voter can sign an oath to vouch for another’s residency.

Lindsey told students the amendment is part of a national push to enact new voting requirements that’s “eerily reminiscent” of past efforts to suppress female and nonwhite voters.

“Voter suppression is not new in our country,” Lindsey said. “We know our history. How can we in good faith support this initiative?”

Consider this part of the DFL’s continuing campaign of fearmongering. If you believed Commissioner Lindsey, which group would have their votes suppressed? Here’s the answer:

Lindsey said he’s especially concerned with a provision in the amendment requiring that all voters be subject to “substantially equivalent identity and eligibility verification” before a ballot is cast or counted. It’s not clear how military members serving overseas could meet the same standards as those voting at a Minnesota polling place, raising the question of how they could meet that requirement, Lindsey said.

I wrote this article to talk specifically about the military vote. There isn’t a question about how they’d meet this requirement. There’s just the DFL’s fearmongering. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, aka UOCAVA, governs military voting rights. This isn’t debatable. This isn’t a situation where we’re waiting to see how a new law will affect voting. UOCAVA was signed by President Reagan in August, 1985.

In short, it’s a pretty sturdy bill. It’s a known quantity.

The DFL is intent on lying through their teeth to prevent this proposed constitutional amendment from passing. They know their only hope to defeat the Photo ID amendment is to frighten enough people with lie after lie after lie.

If that doesn’t work, they’ll have to figure out how they’ll ignore the law without paying a big political price.

The DFL’s other tactic is whining:

Lindsey said an overlooked but key element of the amendment is how it would affect rural voters, through a new provisional voting system that would be created under the amendment. Voters who couldn’t provide identification when voting would be required to cast provisional ballots, then prove their identity within a specified time period after the election in order for their ballot to be counted.

That could create hardships for those in rural areas who vote a long distance from where they live or work, Lindsey said.

Here’s a thought. How about expecting people to take responsibility for meeting the requirements? I know that’s a radical thought for the DFL but it’s a practice that’s worked throughout American history.

Notice that Lindsey didn’t say provisional balloting would prevent people from voting. He said that provisional balloting would “create hardships for those in rural areas.” That assumes that people living in rural areas won’t take responsibility to get state-issued photographic identification.

Also, the new task of administering provisional ballots could require Minnesota counties to incur tens of millions in new costs, Lindsey added.

Commissioner Lindsey, what information are you basing that scare tactic on? A provision in the ballot question? Have counties or municipalities said that they’d incur new costs handling provisional ballots? If they have, what are they basing their worries on? Fear of change? Reality? Or are they just fearmongering, too?

Tags: Mark Dayton, Kevin Lindsey, Photo ID, Provisional Ballots, Rural Voters, Personal Responsibility, Military Voting, UOCAVA, Fearmongering, Voter Fraud, DFL, Election 2012

Mark Ritchie’s willingness to do anything to prevent the proposed Photo ID constitutional amendment from becoming the governing authority on elections is breathtaking. This video shows what tactics Mr. Ritchie will use to defeat the proposed Photo ID amendment:

Here’s the transcript of Ms. Farrell’s statement:

I am Barbara Farrell, the president of the Minnesota chapter of American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. I received a letter from Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. The letter he sent me came from his office using state resources asking me to stand against the voter ID amendment and to also have my group stand against it.

American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., as a group does not take political positions. Therefore, our group cannot stand one way or the other on the issue but as a mother of a military person who died while on active duty, I am outraged by the letter because in it, Mark Ritchie says that the new Voter amendment, if passed, would take away the military vote, make it more difficult for our military personnel overseas to vote when that is not the case.

I am also outraged that he would use state resources to campaign against an issue that, as Secretary of State, he should be neutral on.

Mr. Ritchie is lying when he says that the proposed Photo ID constitutional amendment would stop military voting. He knows he’s lying because the UOCAVA, aka the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, controls elections for military personnel serving overseas. Since this is a federal issue, UOCAVA is constitutional from a Tenth Amendment standpoint. That means nothing a state does, whether through statutes or through constitutional amendments, affects absentee balloting for military personnel serving overseas.

What’s worse is that Ritchie made this campaign appeal using official Secretary of State stationary, something that’s expressly forbidden:

“There are a lot of subtleties about the line separating official function from campaigns,” Nobles said on Monday. “But this one was not subtle. It was an official document, and a reference to a running mate has no place in it.”

Whether it’s Mike Hatch using official OAG stationary to talk about his runningmate or it’s Mark Ritchie using official SOS stationery to defeat the proposed Photo ID constitutional amendment, the same rules apply. The principle is exquisitely simple. Supplies bought with the taxpayers’ money can only be used for the taxpayers’ business.

Campaigns aren’t the taxpayers’ business.

It’s time for Mr. Ritchie to get impeached. He’s committed to not enforcing this proposed constitutional amendment like he’s been committed to not fulfilling his responsibilities mandated by the HAVA of 2002.

Tags: Mark Ritchie, Secretary of State, Mike Hatch, Attorney General, Corrupt Conduct In Office, Office Supplies, Campaigns, DFL, Investigation, Gold Star Mothers Inc., Barbara Farrell, UOCAVA, Photo ID, Absentee Ballots, Military, Election 2012