Author Archives: ELECTIONLAWCENTER.COM

Verdict in Voter Fraud Trial of Rensselaer County Democratic Elections Commissioner: Not Guilty on 61 of 62 Counts



From New York, a verdict at last:  “A Rensselaer County Court jury found Democratic Elections Commissioner Edward McDonough not guilty Friday on 61 counts in his second ballot-fraud trial that started six weeks ago… He originally was charged with 74 felony counts for allegedly participating in a scheme by some Troy Democrats to steal the 2009 Working Families Party primary for City Council by casting forged absentee ballots.”


 


Four other Democrats charged in the scheme pleaded guilty: former City Clerk William McInerney, former Councilman John Brown, former council aide Anthony Renna and former Democratic operative Anthony DeFiglio.  Former trial mate Michael LoPorto was retried and acquitted.


 



By reaching a verdict – something the jury in McDonough’s first trial was unable to do when one juror reportedly refused to convict – on Friday, the jurors were able to “start the holiday weekend early” as requested.   Merry Christmas to all.

“Miami-Dade Election Report: County to Blame for Some Problems”



So, not a Republican plot to “suppress” Democrat voters?  Someone alert Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL):


 


“The waits of up to seven hours at some Miami-Dade polls during last month’s presidential election occurred in part because the county failed to estimate how much time it would take to fill out 10- to 12-page ballots, did not open more early-voting sites and decided not to draw new precincts this year as planned, a report issued Wednesday concluded.


 


“… the 53-page report… also places responsibility on the county’s election department, run by Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s appointed elections supervisor, Penelope Townsley.”


 


The report identifies seven problem-causing “key factors.”  Not on the list: Florida’s voter ID requirement or fewer early voting days, the two items Nelson tried to scapegoat in Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing as Republican measures “clearly designed to disenfranchise likely Democratic voters.”  Contrary to the Senator’s hackneyed hackery,  poor planning by yet another Florida county elections supervisor was the main culprit in Miami-Dade.


 


The Miami Herald has the story.


Disgusting Racialism at the New York Times

The Tim Scott appointment to the U.S. Senate is causing internal logical overload and fried circuity at the New York Times.  The paper today has an op-ed exposing the damage.  The editorial descends to outright racialism of the sort you’d find in some of the creepy corners of the racially paranoid groups on the fringe.  Some samples:

“But this “first black” rhetoric tends to interpret African-American political successes — including that of President Obama — as part of a morality play that dramatizes “how far we have come.” It obscures the fact that modern black Republicans have been more tokens than signs of progress.


The cheerleading over racial symbolism plays to the Republicans’ desperate need to woo (or at least appear to woo) minority voters, who favored Mr. Obama over Mitt Romney by huge margins.”

Modern black Republicans have been mere tokens.

“Just as white Southern Democrats once used cynical manipulations — poll taxes, grandfather clauses, literacy tests — to get around the 15th Amendment, so modern-day Republicans have deployed blacks to undermine black interests.”

Modern-day Republicans have deployed blacks to undermine black interests.

“There is little that connects these men to mainstream black politics or to the country’s first two black senators Hiram R. Revels and Blanche K. Bruce.”

Mainstream black politics.

I’d suspect the views of Revels and Bruce are far closer to the views of Tim Scott and Alan West, whether dealing with human liberty, the right to self defense, or the right to live free from government imposed racial classifications than are any other member of the CBC.  The New York Tiimes should have never printed such a disgustingly racialist op-ed, but then again, the New York Times isn’t to be taken seriously anymore as a moral or enlightened source of information.  You can read more about Adolph L. Reed Jr, the crackpot academic who wrote the piece here.

Hat tip to Michael Graham for this one.

N.C. Supreme Court says Justice Newby can hear redistricting case

The Left attempted to use personal attacks on a state supreme court justice in North Carolina as part of strategy in their last gasp litigation over redistricting plans.  They failed.  Doing what the Democrats failed to do when they were in control of decades of redistricting, the Republicans successfully passed redistricting plans for federal and state legislative office holders with no objection of racial discrimination or racial gerrymandering from either the Department of Justice or the Federal courts.  As expected, the NAACP is not happy with increased representation by African-Americans because they care more about partisan Democrat party politics inside the state.  And the most hurtful of racial accusations continue to be lodged against Republicans through the media and court pleadings.  

The N.C. Supreme Court said Justice Paul Newby can consider a lawsuit challenging the way election districts are drawn.

The court has rejected a request from the state NAACP, Democrats and
others that Newby withdraw from the case, The News & Observer of
Raleigh reported.

N.C. NAACP president William Barber said the groups are disappointed with the decision.

Link to the full story.