The Romney campaign signaled an aggressive effort to protect military voters by suing the state of Wisconsin while at the same time, DOJ has filed no pleadings either to enforce previous decrees or to bring a new lawsuit. Tabella has the post down below.
This is significant for two reasons. First, it demonstrates an aggressive commitment from the Romney campaign to bring lawsuits to protect military voters even when Eric Holder’s Justice Department does not. Wisconsin is unlikely to be the last state. Second, it demonstrates that the Romney campaign, and eventually perhaps a Romney administration, is now keenly aware of the deficiencies in the current enforcement scheme.
Author Archives: J Christian Adams
Election integrity opponent turns out to be election fraudster
Volunteer for voter ID opponent Voces De La Frontera sentenced for voter fraud: The Spanish Journal, a bilingual Milwaukee news source, is reporting that Ms. Colon apparently worked for Voces De La Frontera, a group known for championing liberal and pro-labor causes. Voces, as it is commonly called, is one of several groups that filed a lawsuit against Wisconsin’s newly passed voter ID law which requires voters to show a photo ID to confirm identity when they go to the polls. The lawsuit they filed successfully led to the law being suspended by a Dane County court.
Yadira Colon, formerly of Wisconsin, pled no contest to charges that she illegally registered to vote in 2008 (lying about where she lived to election officials) and forged signatures on nominating petitions for then State Rep. Pedro Colon (D), no relation.
“Romney files military ballots suit in Wisconsin”
…Wisconsin has been a “serial offender” when it comes to ensuring
overseas personnel receive their ballots on time, noting that this is
the third time in two years that the state has had issues with military
ballots.
Daily Caller reports full story.
NAACP wants Mississippi redistricted lines thrown out and all new elections in 2013
The NAACP is not happy with the increase of majority minority seats.
The map has 15 majority-black Senate districts, or 29 percent. When
federal judges drew the Senate map a decade ago, it had 12
majority-black seats, or 23 percent. Between 2000 and 2010, population
changes resulted in one more district becoming majority black, bringing
the total to 13 seats, or 25 percent, as legislators embarked on drawing
new maps.
VP candidate Paul Ryan talks military voting
Link: In the town hall Monday, Ryan heard from a man worried about military
ballots. The Romney-Ryan campaign has filed a federal lawsuit
requesting that Wisconsin extend the absentee deadline for military and
overseas voters from Nov. 9 to Nov. 14; state voting officials have said
some of their ballots were delivered up to five days after the promised
date.
“We’ve had to go to the length — our campaign — of having to bring a
lawsuit to make sure that these men and women who are getting their
absentee ballots, who are serving our military, who are overseas have
enough time to return their ballots so that their votes are counted,”
Ryan said.
Citizens Only: Cert Granted to Review AZ Citizenship Verification
Supreme Court grants cert in Arizona v. Inter Tribal.
Breitbart: #Military Ballot #Fail
@Breitbart reports that states are failing to comply with the #MOVE Act.
“Jurisdictions in Vermont, Michigan, Mississippi and Wisconsin have failed to mail absentee ballots to military members by the Sept. 22, 2012, deadline established by the MOVE Act.”
So far @DOJ has only taken action against Vermont, and 19 days late. Breitbart has left other states off of the list, including Massachusetts. So far, none of these other states have been sued.
House Admin sent a letter to @FVAP, demanding to know why so few military installations have voter offices.
“The congressmen also asked Defense Department officials whether they have established installation voting assistance offices where they are required. It is the service branches’ responsibility to establish these offices.”
Business as usual for South Carolina’s county elections offices
In Horry County, officials are training poll workers, including telling them to ask voters to show either a voter registration card, a driver’s license or an ID card issued by the S.C. Highway Department, said Sandy Martin, voter registration and elections director. This has been the same procedure Horry County Voter Registration officials have followed for years. Georgetown County will also stick to requiring pollsters to ask for one of those same three forms of identification, said Donna Mahn, county director of elections and voter registration. Hopefully South Carolina voters without one of the three required forms of ID won’t be expecting the generous “reasonable impediment” provision included in the new law, which the court delayed until 2013 due to DOJ’s months-long stalling with baseless litigation.
Wednesday’s ruling that upheld South Carolina’s photo voter ID law did not “set off an avalanche of calls from confused voters,” according to local election officials:
Gov. Scott confident counties will continue cleanup of Florida voter rolls: “We want fair, honest elections.”
The Governor told Univision/ABC: “The county supervisors of elections are responsible for their local voter rolls. They’re elected, and every citizen will decide if they’re doing their job properly. We fought to make sure they had the right to the SAVE database so they can look and make sure they have fair, honest elections in their area.” Federal judge William Zloch dismissed charges that Florida violated federal law by seeking to remove noncitizens who might be registered to vote. The U.S. Justice Department and advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Service Employees International Union aimed to prevent the voter purge, arguing that it could not be done within 90 days of an election. “Certainly, the National Voter Registration Act does not require the state to idle on the sidelines until a non-citizen violates the law before the state can act,” wrote Zloch in his opinion. A representative from the ACLU was not available for comment, but the group has become more open to admitting voter fraud is a problem in the Sunshine State. More here.
“Double-Voting a Real Concern in Florida”
“Double voting is especially a concern in Florida, where part-time residents, known as snowbirds, have a second home in a different state, giving them the chance to register to vote in two states, according to elections supervisors. Absentee ballots, which are growing more popular, make it easier to pull off this fraud because the person doesn’t need to travel to both places. “The problem stems largely because there’s no national database that enables all states to cross-check registration and voting records… In 20 states where officials match records, thousands of people turned up as possibly double voting during the 2010 general election. But these cross-check systems have a lag and often don’t catch questionable votes until long after an election is over… “Election supervisors say preventing this type of fraud is paramount because once an unlawful ballot is cast, it can’t be reversed, even if the person is convicted of the crime.” A 2012 Pew Center study found that, of more than 24 million U.S. voter registration records that are inaccurate, out of date, or duplicates, “Nearly 2.8 million people are registered in two or more states.” Will more states get serious about cleaning up and cross-checking their voter registration rolls, to prevent this fraudulent activity and restore public confidence in election outcomes?
Not just in Florida. TCPalm offers an in-depth look at the problem of illegal cross-state double voting and which states are addressing the problem: