Not All Voting Happens on Election Day
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Election officials begin mailing ballots Sept. 9 [...]
Why Does DHS Want to Designate Election Booths ‘Critical Infrastructure?’
We have the most decentralized election system of any Western democracy.
Media Are Flat Wrong to Dismiss Voter Fraud Concerns
Philadelphia has a long reputation of fixing elections as a means of controlling patronage and municipal contracts.
California’s Zombie Voter Apocalypse
By Hans von Spakovsky and Jana Minich Hollywood has always loved making films about the walking dead, but in Southern California it appears they have a real life problem with "zombie" voters. An investigation by CBSLA2 and KCAL9 found that hundreds of deceased persons are still on voter registration rolls in the area, and that many of these names have been voting for years in Los Angeles. For example, John Cenkner died in 2003 according to Social Security Administration records, yet he voted in the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010 elections. His daughter told the station that she was "astounded" and couldn't "understand how anybody" could get away with this. Another voter, Julita Abutin, died in 2006 but voted in 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014. According to CBS, the county confirmed they have "signed vote-by-mail envelopes" from Abutin since she passed away. So either someone has been forging her signature or her ghost has quite an earthly presence. The investigation revealed that 265 deceased persons voted in Southern California, 215 of them in Los Angeles County. Thirty-two were repeat voters, with eight posthumously-cast ballots each. One woman who died in 1988 has been voting for 26 years, including in the 2014 election. This report comes twenty years after the contested election of Rep. Loretta Sanchez. D-Calif., from this same area. An investigation by a U.S. House committee found that hundreds of illegal ballots were cast by noncitizens and improper absentee ballots
Federal Judge Upholds North Carolina Voter ID Law
RALEIGH -- A federal judge has upheld North Carolina's voter ID law in a ruling posted Monday evening. U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder issued a 485-page ruling dismissing all claims in the challenge to the state's sweeping 2013 election law overhaul. Schroeder, a George W. Bush appointee, also upheld portions of the 2013 law that reduced the number of days people could vote early, eliminated same-day registration and voting and prohibited people from casting a ballot outside their precinct. The decision comes nearly three months after a trial on the ID portion of the law. Schroeder noted that North Carolina had "become progressive nationally" by permitting absentee voting, early voting for 17 days before the Election Day, a lengthy registration period, out-of-precinct voting on Election Day and a pre-registration program for 16-year-olds. "In 2013, North Carolina retrenched," Schroeder said in his opinion. Ultimately, though, Schroeder said the state had provided "legitimate state interests" in making the changes and the challengers failed to demonstrate that the law was unconstitutional. "This ruling further affirms that requiring a photo ID in order to vote is not only common sense, it's constitutional," Gov. Pat McCrory said in a statement. "Common practices like boarding an airplane and purchasing Sudafed require photo ID, and thankfully a federal court has ensured our citizens will have the same protection for their basic right to vote." In reaching the decision released on Monday, Schroeder conducted a two-part trial that spanned more than 21 days in July and this past January. He considered the testimony of 21 expert witnesses and 112 other witnesses, and more than 25,000 pages that are part of the record.
Florida Mayor, Two Others, Indicted for Vote Fraud
ORLANDO --The mayor of Eatonville and two others face a host of charges in connection with an election fraud investigation. News of the indictment came as the grand jury looking into the case concluded its service Monday. Mayor Anthony Grant is accused of offering bribes in exchange for absentee votes -- allegations the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has investigated. "These three people conspired together to essentially present votes as if they were legitimate," said State Attorney Jeff Ashton. "That is the allegation in a number of the counts." Grant turned himself into authorities Monday night and is in the custody of the Orange County Jail. The two others named in the indictment, James Randolph and Mia Nowells, are also in custody. Officials said Randolph and Nowells worked for or with Grant during the election. "This indictment is the culmination of a one-year investigation," Ashton said. In a news conference, Ashton said Grant, along with his two alleged co-conspirators, Nowells and Randolph, is accused of either telling people how to vote or intimidating people to influence how they voted on their absentee ballots in last year's election.
Meet the Police Officer Who’s Been Charged with Voter Fraud
By Hans von Spakovsky Call the cops! It looks like someone is committing voter fraud in Indiana again! Ironically, in this case, however, the alleged fraudster who has been arrested by the Indiana State Police was a cop. Unfortunately, even officers who graduate from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy are capable of violating the public trust by allegedly trying to steal an election. That is the case with Officer Lowell Ross Colen of the Rising Sun Police Department, a small Indiana town of around 2,300 people on the Ohio River across from Kentucky. Colen was apparently an average guy at the police department. According to his chief, Dave Hewitt, Colen was "fairly well liked and very loyal." Hewitt described Colen as the "kind of guy that would come in and put his time in." However, it seems Colen was doing more than providing for the public safety while on duty at the Rising Sun Police Department. Colen wanted individuals to vote for his father, Francis "Swede" Colen, in the 2015 May primary for city council. So, he allegedly proceeded to fill out absentee ballot applications for people who were not even eligible to vote in the election, and then voted with these ballots after he received them from election officials. According to the Indiana State Police Department, he forged the signatures of the supposed voters on some of the documents before turning them into the Ohio County, Ind. clerk's office. In some cases, Officer Colen is even believed to have been in uniform and on duty while committing the acts. In a twist of fate, the voting scofflaw was arrested in his home on charges of official misconduct, forgery, voter fraud and ghost employment. He has been charged with 13 felony counts, and is, of course, entitled to a presumption of innocence, so it remains to be seen what the final disposition will be. Nonetheless, this goes to show that, contrary to what some skeptics say, voting fraud does occur in this country. In local elections with small margins of victory, fraud is especially able to be the deciding factor.
About That Voter-ID Fracas in Alabama: Much Ado About Nothing
By Hans A. von Spakovsky Many on the left are in a ferment over Alabama's closure of some part-time Department of Motor Vehicles offices. It's being done for budgetary reasons, but liberals are claiming it's being done to raise a "barrier for poor and minority voters" in getting an ID to vote, according to the Washington Post. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton said that "it's a blast from the Jim Crow past" and Jesse Jackson claimed that "this new Jim Crow isn't subtle." It's really a sign of how desperate critics of voter-ID laws are that they would raise such inflammatory, ridiculous claims over a budget issue that has nothing to do with race, Jim Crow, or discrimination. After all, they've been steadily losing their fight against voter ID in the courts, with only a few exceptions, and in the realm of public opinion. Alabama's new voter-ID law for both in-person and absentee voting went into effect last year. Despite the outcries that it would "suppress" votes, there have been no problems or complaints that anyone has been unable to vote because of the new requirement. It's been the same in all of the other states, such as Georgia and Indiana, that have implemented such ID laws. I've written numerous papers looking at turnout data in states after ID laws became effective -- ID laws have no discernible effect on decreasing or preventing turnout. Alabama has 44 driver's-license offices throughout the state. It apparently also had 31 satellite offices that were open only part-time and that accounted for less than 5 percent of the driver's licenses issued each year. Because of the budget passed by the state legislature, Alabama's state government had to "allocate scarce limited resources in Fiscal Year 2016," according to a letter sent by Governor Robert Bentley to Representative Terri Sewell (D., Ala). So the state government decided to close these satellite offices. Sewell is one of the critics whose "impulsive, ill-informed" comments about that decision were, Governor Bentley says, "based on irresponsible media reports." What all of the media and critics missed or deliberately ignored is that, in addition to being able to use a driver's license to meet the voter-ID requirement, you can get a free voter ID in every single county in the state. In addition to DMV offices, the secretary of state offers free voter IDs in all 67 counties through the local election registrar.
How an Alabama Woman Used Voter Fraud to Get Her Boyfriend Elected
In Dothan, Ala., the verdict is in: it was election fraud. Last week, a jury convicted 66-year-old Olivia Reynolds on 24 felony counts of absentee ballot fraud in the contested 2013 election for the Dothan City Commission. Reynolds worked on the re-election campaign for District 2 incumbent Amos Newsome. During the tainted 2013 election, she forged and altered enough absentee ballots to guarantee victory for her boss and boyfriend. The verdict will only come as a shock to those who still insist that voter fraud simply doesn't exist in the U.S. In 2013, Newsome narrowly won reelection to his office, besting challenger Lamesa Danzey by a scant 14 votes. However, after Danzey identified at least 37 absentee ballots that she claimed were illegally cast, the Houston County Sheriff began investigating irregularities in the District 2 race. Danzey, it turned out, had won the in-person vote by a hundred votes, 343-243. But Newsome had carried a whopping 96% of the absentee vote, winning 119 of the 124 ballots cast by mail. That was enough to tip the scales in the incumbent's favor - and to raise the eyebrows of investigators given how much the margin of absentee ballots cast for Newsome differed from the margin of votes cast for him on Election Day. Interestingly, this was not the first time Newsome had lost the in-person vote but carried the absentee vote by wide margins. In 2011, he lost at the polls by 45 votes, yet won 131 absentee ballots - all but 9 cast that year. The Sheriff's investigation culminated in the arrest of Reynolds and three others. Three of the four have now been convicted in what appears to have been an organized conspiracy to deny the citizens of Dothan their right to free and fair elections. Investigators found that the defendants had fraudulently applied for and submitted absentee ballots for registered voters. During Reynolds' trial, it was revealed that she went even further. Witnesses testified that she ordered them to vote for Newsome. Four witnesses confirmed they had done so even though they intended to vote against him. In some cases, Reynolds illegally filled out part or all of voters' ballots for them. In the course of the trial, some voters discovered their ballots had evidently been cast for Newsome, even though they had never voted for him. Alabama law requires that absentee votes must be observed by two witnesses, to safeguard against fraud. But the case reveals how easy it is to circumvent that requirement - and just how insecure absentee ballots are. In fact, absentee ballot fraud is one of the most common forms of election fraud. Reynolds' attorney, Chris Capps, responded to the charges against his client with allegations of racism on the part of prosecutors and law enforcement. The city of Dothan, Capps said, was just out to get Newsome and undermine the ability of a minority district to vote absentee. Of course, Capps wanted jurors to overlook the fact that the primary victims of Reynolds' fraud were the minority residents of District 2 whom she effectively disenfranchised. Such false claims are sadly common in the debate over election fraud. Opponents characterize efforts to ensure the integrity of the electoral process, such as requiring photo ID for both in-person and absentee voting, as little more than an attempt to suppress minority votes. In reality, nothing of the kind is true. Often these claims, such as in this case, are merely an attempt to distract the public from the criminal activity of the defendants and to deter and scare prosecutors from proceeding. Analysis has revealed that minority turnout has actually increased in states with photo ID requirements. At trial, Assistant District Attorney Banks Smith reminded jurors and the public that voter fraud cases are not about political agendas or racially-motivated attacks. "This case is about the sanctity of the ballot." And jurors, it seems, paid attention. The evidence was so overwhelming it took less than an hour for the jury to return a guilty verdict. Reynolds is the third person convicted of absentee ballot fraud in connection with the Newsome campaign. Though Commissioner Newsome himself has not been directly fingered for criminal conduct, the legitimacy of his election has clearly been called into question.
Vote Fraud Convictions in Alabama City Spur Call for Resignation
Three Dothan city commissioners are calling for the resignation of District 2 Commissioner Amos Newsome after a third worker from Newsome's most recent commission campaign was convicted of voter fraud. District 1 Commissioner Kevin Dorsey, District 4 Commissioner John Ferguson and District 5 Commissioner Beth Kenward told the Dothan Eagle on Friday that Newsome's presence on the commission could lead to a lack of confidence from voters toward the commission as a whole. Olivia Reynolds, who assisted Newsome's commission campaign in 2013, was convicted this week on 24 counts of felony absentee voter fraud. Lesa Coleman was convicted in April on seven counts of felony absentee voter fraud. Janice Hart pleaded guilty to several counts of misdemeanor absentee voter fraud earlier this year. Three voter fraud charges remain pending against another person, Daniel Webster III.