List of Voter Fraud Cases Keeps Growing

The Heritage Foundation's list of nearly 300 documented cases of voter fraud in the United States continues to grow. Recent additions reveal that voter fraud is not just an individual or isolated crime; in some counties and communities, election fraud is almost a way of life. These additions again reinforce the need for measures such as voter ID laws and procedures designed to verify the accuracy of voter registration information are needed to prevent these crimes in the first place. Take East Chicago, Ind., for example, a town made infamous by the extensive voter fraud that occurred there in the 2003 Democratic mayoral primary election. The Daily Signal is the multimedia news organization of The Heritage Foundation. We'll respect your inbox and keep you informed. The fraud was so pervasive that the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the results of the primary and ordered a new special election that resulted in a different winner. A local judge found "direct, competent, and convincing evidence" that supporters of the election's apparent victor, incumbent Mayor Robert Pastrick, orchestrated an elaborate scheme of absentee ballot fraud.

Don’t Believe Voter Fraud Happens? Here Are More Examples

By Hans von Spakovsky In the interest of helping out the editorial writers and pundits of media outlets who don't think voter fraud occurs, I wanted to note just a few recent cases (and readers interested in seeing almost 200 more such cases can do so here.): In McAllen, Texas, two campaign workers (known as politiqueras in local parlance) who bribed voters with cocaine, beer, cigarettes and cash during a 2012 school board election have been sentenced separately to serve eight and four months in prison, respectively. U.S. District Court Judge Randy Crane called this election fraud "terrible" and said that "our country requires that our voting process be clear and free of fraud for democracy to work... it's dangerous for this to occur without consequence." A couple in Le Sueur, Minn., was charged with felony voter registration fraud for lying about where they lived so they could vote in a school bond referendum in another town. A woman in Dothan, Ala., was sentenced to six months in prison for her part in a voter fraud scheme that got a city commissioner re-elected. She was the second of the four people charged to have been found guilty of voter fraud in the case, which may have involved more than 100 absentee ballots.

Indiana Voter ID Law for Absentee Ballots Advances

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana legislative committee has backed a proposal that would require the use of voter identification numbers for mail-in absentee ballots. The Senate Elections Committee voted 5-4 Monday to advance the bill. Sponsor Republican Sen. Mike Young of Indianapolis says requiring the identification number will help prevent instances of voter fraud. The number would be available via a state phone line and website.

2020-05-03T23:34:44+00:00February 9th, 2015|Absentee / Mail-in Voting, News, Vote Fraud, Voter ID|

New Mexico Legislator Seeks New Voter ID Law

ALBUQUERQUE - A state legislator is pushing for voter identification requirements in New Mexico. Cities and state around the country have enacted voter ID legislation. It's required in Albuquerque during city elections, and people in Hobbs recently passed a similar law. "Anybody who's not voting accurately by who they say they are, that's too many," Republican Rep. James Smith told KRQE News 13. Smith filed a bill that would require voters to produce government-issued photo IDs with some exceptions. People who don't bring their ID could still vote if they gave a social security number and date of birth. Smith's proposal would change not only how you vote in person, but also by mail. "This bill covers absentee ballots as well, where you have to prove who you are over absentee ballots and if there is a place for voter fraud, it's more likely in the absentee or the registration than it is in in person voting," Smith said.

2020-05-03T23:34:44+00:00January 5th, 2015|Absentee / Mail-in Voting, News, Vote Fraud, Voter ID|

How to Fraud-Proof Elections

By Edwin Meese III and Ken Blackwell Once upon a time, Americans got together on Election Day, went to the polls, and chose our leaders. Voting on the same day helped bind us together as self-governing citizens in a free republic. It even felt like a national holiday -- Independence Day without the fireworks. Except for those traveling or who are infirm and who can use absentee ballots, Election Day puts everyone in the same boat. As a civic exercise in equality, it is unparalleled. It has the added advantage of making vote fraud more difficult, since there is a very short window in which to commit it. But over the past few decades, election laws have been relaxed in the name of convenience, with "reforms" such as early voting, same-day registration, Sunday and evening voting hours, no-excuse absentee voting and allowing out-of-precinct ballots. All of these increase the possibility of vote fraud. At the same time, despite a clear mandate in the National Voter Registration Act (also known as the Motor Voter Law) to keep accurate registrations, the system has grown lax; election authorities have left millions on the voter rolls who should not be there.

Here Comes the 2014 Voter Fraud

In the past few months, a former police chief in Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to voter fraud in a town-council election. That fraud had flipped the outcome of a primary election. Former Connecticut legislator Christina Ayala has been indicted on 19 charges of voter fraud, including voting in districts where she didn't reside. (She hasn't entered a plea.) A Mississippi grand jury indicted seven individuals for voter fraud in the 2013 Hattiesburg mayoral contest, which featured voting by ineligible felons and impersonation fraud. A woman in Polk County, Tenn., was indicted on a charge of vote-buying--a practice that the local district attorney said had too long "been accepted as part of life" there. Now come the midterm elections on Nov. 4. What is the likelihood that your vote won't count? That your vote will, in effect, be canceled or stolen as a consequence of mistakes by election officials or fraudulent votes cast by campaign workers or ineligible voters like felons and noncitizens?

Courts Strike Down Wisconsin, Texas Voter ID Laws

The U.S. Supreme Court late Thursday blocked Wisconsin from enforcing its strict voter identification law in November's election. By a 6-3 vote, the justices granted an emergency appeal from civil rights lawyers, who argued it was too late to put the rule into effect this year. Lawyers for the ACLU noted that the state had already sent out thousands of absentee ballots without mentioning the need for voters to return a copy of their photo identification. At nearly the same time, a federal judge in Texas struck down that state's new voter ID law on the grounds that it violated the constitutional right to vote and discriminated against racial minorities. Texas Atty. Gen. Gregg Abbott said the state would appeal. The Wisconsin and Texas cases were the two most closely watched tests of new voter rules this year. In both states, Republican-led legislatures sought to tighten the rules for voting and to require all registered voters who did not have a driver's license to obtain a photo ID card at a state motor vehicles office.

ACLU Sues over Pullback on Early Voting in Ohio

COLUMBUS - The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups filed a federal lawsuit on May 8 against Ohio's elections chief over limits to when voters can cast an early ballot in the perennial battleground state. Ohioans can cast an absentee ballot by mail or in person before Election Day without giving any reason. About 33 percent of those who voted in the 2012 presidential election cast an early ballot. The lawsuit filed in Columbus federal court claims that recent cuts to early voting will make it difficult for tens of thousands of residents to vote and will unfairly affect black voters, who the groups say are more likely to use weekend and evening hours to vote early in elections.

Vote Fraud as ‘Payback Time’

Melowese Richardson is the poster girl for vote fraud. The Ohio poll worker was sentenced last July to five years in prison after being convicted of voting twice in the 2012 election and voting three times -- in 2008, 2011 and 2012 -- in the name of her sister, in a coma since 2003, according to USA Today. This might be below Chicago graveyard standards, but it's still impressive. Ms. Richardson has become a heroine to the left, which is working with its legal arm -- the U.S. Justice Department -- to kill voter photo-ID laws in order to ensure that creative voting continues.

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