Prosecutors say Smith cast fraudulent absentee ballots “in multiple elections in 2009 and 2010” and other government officials participated in the scheme, which the FBI says was the subject of a two-year investigation.
The Boston Herald reports that Democrat State Rep. Stephen Smith, a member of the Joint Committee on Election Laws, “has agreed to plead guilty to voter fraud charges stemming from an absentee ballot scheme in 2009 and 2010 and to resign from the Legislature.”
Eric Holder recently suggested that voter fraud rarely occurs, “because few people are willing to risk felony charges to influence an election.” Smith was certainly willing to take the risk, and his charges turned out to be just two misdemeanor counts and a five-year moratorium on seeking public office.
Author Archives: J Christian Adams
“Miami-Dade grand jury: Absentee voting fraud clouds confidence in tight election results”
Amazing story out of the Miami Herald where a grand jury hears evidence of vote fraud and provides recommendations to reign in illegal practices. There may be some debate over voter ID but there is certainly no debate over voter fraud. It is real and can swing elections, particularly in close elections:
Florida and Miami-Dade County should tighten rules for voting by
mail and make it easier to vote early in order to prevent fraud and plug
“gaping holes” in absentee voting, a Miami-Dade grand jury has
concluded.To prove their point, grand jurors made an astounding
revelation: A county software vendor discovered that a clandestine,
untraceable computer program submitted more than 2,500 fraudulent,
“phantom” requests for voters who had not applied for absentee ballots
in the August primary.The grand jury issued 23 recommendations,
from reinstating a state requirement that someone witness an absentee
voter sign a ballot — thereby making it easier for law enforcement to
investigate potential fraud — to urging the county to work closely with
assisted-living facilities and nursing homes to deter scammers from
targeting the sick and elderly.
Kansas Voter ID Stats Prove Critics Wrong. Again.
Compared to the last presidential election year in which Kansas had “no races for statewide offices, including U.S. Senate races”: 2012 voter turnout – 66.8 percent 2000 voter turnout – 66.7 percent “Sorry, Brennan Center. Your claim that voter ID laws reduce turnout goes up in smoke. Again.”
Hans von Spakovsky notes some “very interesting statistics” from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach that “disprove — once again — the fallacious claims made by critics of voter ID.”
Arkansas Proposes an Independent Voter Integrity Unit
“They’ll take the complaint seriously,” King said. “The biggest problem is actually prosecuting the people involved … and being proactive, so when we actually have election irregularities happen, and we’ve had them for years, that you have somebody actually go out and investigate it and then have a process where if you do find something there it is addressed and prosecuted, if needed.”
While Senator Dick Durbin badgers Judiciary Committee hearing witnesses about voter fraud conviction numbers he deems too low to merit attention, Arkansas legislator Bryan King is proposing a solution to the problem: a voter integrity unit with independent prosecutors and judges to investigate voter fraud cases, something he says the state Board of Election Commissioners hasn’t done aggressively enough.
George Will Takes on Forced Voter Registration
George Will’s latest column. So is nonvoting. Remember this as the Obama administration mounts a drive to federalize voter registration, a step toward making voting mandatory. . . . Notice the perverse dialectic by which Washington aggrandizes its power: It promises to ameliorate problems exacerbated by its supposedly ameliorative policies. Notice, too, the logic of Perez’s thesis that “our democracy is stronger when more people have a say in electing their leaders.” Therefore the public good would be served by penalizing nonvoting, as Australia, Belgium and at least 10 other countries do. Liberals love mandates (e.g., health insurance). Why not mandatory voting? . . .
“The poet Carl Sandburg supposedly was asked by a young playwright to attend a rehearsal. Sandburg did but fell asleep. The playwright exclaimed, “How could you sleep when you knew I wanted your opinion?” Sandburg replied, “Sleep is an opinion.”
Those who think high voter turnout indicates civic health should note that in three German elections, 1932-33, turnout averaged more than 86 percent, reflecting the terrible stakes: The elections decided which mobs would rule the streets and who would inhabit concentration camps. “
Toxic Bias in Association of American Law School Meeting on Elections
Cross posted from PJ Media: If you needed another example of the extraordinary bias in law schools today, particularly when it comes to election law, take a look at the panel at the Association of American Law Schools annual meeting where election law will be discussed. It is stacked full of liberal leftists. Even the title betrays toxic bias in the meeting agenda (pun intended): Hot Topic Workshop on Democracy and the Public Trust: Equality, Integrity, and Suppression in the 2012 Election Moderators: Steven Bender, Seattle University School of Law Audrey G. McFarlane, University of Baltimore School of Law Speakers: Gilda Daniels, University of Baltimore School of Law Richard L. Hasen, University of California, Irvine School of Law Sylvia Lazos, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law Janai S. Nelson, St. John’s University School of Law Spencer Overton, The George Washington University Law School Terry Smith, DePaul University College of Law Zephyr Teachout, Fordham University School of Law [Former Howard Dean activist] The goal is to focus on how the voice of the powerful and the vulnerable were affected by laws regarding election registration and voter ID, election participation and felony disenfranchisement and how the new form of political voice through financial contributions from political action committees have affected the election landscape. The panel is stacked with liberal leftists, leftists who want to seize control over state elections and give it to the federal government, or leftists like Gilda Daniels who teach the next generation of lawyers crackpot critical race theories. One election law expert who could bring balance to this panel described it to me as an “amazingly unbalanced panel, even by the left’s standards.” The American Association of Law Schools should be ashamed of themselves. The groups funding the event, such as Thomson Reuters Westlaw, Lexis Nexis and Pepperdine Law School should demand balance, after all, their customers and student body are balanced. It isn’t hard to find conservatives or even moderates who could dilute the toxic bias of this panel. Some law professors actually teach election law from a perspective that doesn’t involve criminalizing free speech, federalizing state control of elections and using a rotten racial world view to craft public policy. Perhaps AALS head Susan Westerberger Prager (sprager@aals.org) will reassess this badly biased panel, or perhaps not. But balance isn’t what the academy is about anymore. Otherwise the Association of American Law Schools could have invited Brad Smith from Capital Law School, James Woodruff from North Florida or Gail Heriot from San Diego Law, among others. But inviting them would mess up the echo in the chamber.
Tweeting the Senate Judicary Committee Hearing
I’ve been live tweeting the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today on voting. I have to run, but perhaps they will get around to slavery issues later.
True the Vote Sends NVRA Notice to St. Lucie County (FL)
True the Vote wants to review election records in St. Lucie County (FL) regarding the 18th Congressional District contest. The press release: TRUE THE VOTE DEMANDS ACCESS TO REVIEW ST. LUCIE COUNTY POLL BOOKS IN FLORIDA’S 18TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT “Florida voters deserve a full, unfiltered explanation of the facts,” True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht said. “We cannot know whether all the votes add up unless all the relevant information is made available for public inspection,” adding that True the Vote is “committed to performing a county-wide audit of all registration records for the 2012 Election.” True the Vote’s request follows a high-profile recount battle where St. Lucie County election officials admitted to hastily releasing vote tallies, failing to count half the precincts on election night, and double counting votes in others. Following the concession of Congressman Allen West, all investigations into the various irregularities ceased. “Our goal is to fully deconstruct this episode so that this type of travesty won’t happen again,” Engelbrecht continued. “It’s unacceptable to allow flawed counting systems to remain in place because a candidate concedes a race. Faith in the American election system has been shaken enough in recent years – the people of Florida and our Republic deserve better.” True the Vote’s request conforms to standing Florida open records and federal election laws, specifically 42 U.S.C. § 1973gg-6(i)(1), stating that “all records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters” be made available for public inspection. True The Vote (TTV) a nonpartisan, nonprofit grassroots organization focused on preserving election integrity is operated by citizens for citizens, to inspire and equip volunteers for involvement at every stage of our electoral process. TTV empowers organizations and individuals across the nation to actively protect the rights of legitimate voters, regardless of their political party affiliation. For more information, please visit www.truethevote.org. Voto Honesto (TTV) es una organización sin fines de lucro, no partidaria, enfocada en preservar la integridad en las elecciones y operada por ciudadanos para ciudadanos, ara inspirar y equipar a voluntarios para envolverse en cada una de las etapas del proceso electoral. TTT capacita a organizaciones e individuos a través de la nación para activamente proteger los derechos de los votantes legítimos, sin importar a que partido político perteneces. Para más información, por favor visite www.truethevote.org. ###
HOUSTON, TX. December 19, 2012 ― True the Vote (TTV), the nonpartisan election integrity organization, today submitted formal requests to review all voter registration records, including poll books, to St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker in the aftermath of the 18th Congressional District recount.
North Carolina paper calls for reform at North Carolina State Board of Elections
The Beaufort Observers calls for the “North Carolina elections system to be fixed” and reform from the top down to address the concerning election administration issues.
We’ve written about a number of the flaws we have
seen firsthand and posted articles done by others. Taken in toto what
it means is that Governor-elect Pat McCrory has his work cut out for
him.
The governor appoints the state board of election. The
state board selects the local boards, upon the nomination of the local
political party leaders in each county. The local board hire the staff.
Thus, to fix this system McCrory will need to start at the top with
the State Board of Elections. Appointing competent and honest people
will be essential. Then the state board is going to have to hire
honorable people with integrity to manage the system, not only the
elections process but the campaign finance system as well. The state is
then going to need to set specific, effective standards or each county
board and its staff to follow in implementing the law.