Author Archives: ELECTIONLAWCENTER.COM

“Cross dressers and voter fraud in Rhode Island”

The ultimate voter impersonation scheme where people actually voted in disguise and dressed in drag to fraudulently vote for others.  On this one, it is almost too surreal to believe.  

The American Spectator has the story and sworn allegations by a Democratic candidate.

Among the many individuals who impersonated voters in Rhode Island during the 2010 election cycle, there was one that really stood out.  That was the year Democratic Mayor David Cicilline of Providence, Rhode Island, ran for and won the seat congressional seat vacated by Rep. Patrick Kennedy.


A key witness who claims she was hired by Cicilline in 2010 alleges in sworn statement that several individuals impersonated actual voters, and voted in disguise. Here is where it gets very creative.  “That afternoon I identified individuals who had voted in disguise, including cross-gender clothing, earlier in the day,” the witness said. “This included a currently powerful leader in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.”

Republicans close to allowing military to participate in nominating and delegate selection process

The Republican party is on the brink of dealing a major blow to Iowa’s traditional caucus system, with the process’ critics pointing to recent battles over military voting rights to make the case for ending traditional nominating contest. Chris Brown, Chairman of the Young Republican Federation of Alabama and a member of the Republican Convention’s Rules Committee, is expected introduce a measure tomorrow requiring states to use “every means practicable” to ensure that military voters can cast ballots in any process used in the Republican presidential nominating process, according to a person involved in the effort. The measure will be seconded by influential Ohio GOP chair Bob Bennett, who has been a member of the RNC for more than two decades, the source said.


Caucuses — by definition in-person voting systems — would not satisfy the proposed rule, requiring dramatic changes to the process in Iowa and other caucus states, if not their outright abandonment. “The Rule will simply guarantee the right of military voters and wounded warriors to vote in the process of selecting the delegates who will choose our party’s presidential nominee,” wrote former RNC Chairman and former VA Secretary Jim Nicholson in an email to members of the Rules Committee, which was obtained by BuzzFeed, asking that they end “the inexcusable practice of disenfranchising military voters in our party’s presidential delegate selection process.”  


More fascinating details at BuzzFeed.

Washington Times on DOJ Civil Rights Division Hiring Policy



“Holder’s ‘severe mental deficiency'”

“You don’t have to have a severe intellectual disability to work at the Justice Department. But it helps. . .  But the policy states that the Cabinet department run by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. must “achieve a work force from all segments of society,” which includes those who are teetering on the edge of sanity.”

Logan Churchill of True the Vote KO’s the Nation

Makes you wonder what sort of juicy general liability policy the Nation carries against defamation.  Ouch:

Logan Churchwell, Public Relations Director for True the Vote fired back at the comments made by the liberal reporters [at the Nation]. “This is yet another futile attempt to stereotype a movement made up of thousands of Americans, many of whom are retired teachers and veterans, as something to be afraid of,” Churchwell told Red Alert. “Our national network of volunteer poll watchers are armed with notepads and smiles, not nightsticks and snarls. Accusations of intimidation have proven to be illogical and without any objective evidence. Although repetition of falsehoods in the press has a tendency to shape conventional wisdom, the attempts by Mr. Berman and his ilk are only showing a diminishing rate of return. A growing majority of Americans demand election integrity through a variety of measures. True the Vote stands ready to help deliver, despite the needless nail-biting of 50 people chatting on a webcam.

My Amicus Brief in Shelby

Jeffery Harris of the Bancroft Firm and Carrie Severino of the Judicial Education Project have filed this amicus brief in the Supreme Court in the Shelby County case on my behelf.  I am joined by other former DOJ employees including Hans von Spakovsky, Roger Clegg, Charles Cooper, Robert Driscoll, William Bradford Reynolds, and Bradley Schlozman.  We detail misconduct in the Voting Section in the past, as well as Constitutional problems with the 2006 reauthorization. 

“None of the Above” is out in Nevada – unconstitutional

In a high-stakes election that could help determine the presidency and control of the U.S. Senate, a judge has ruled Nevada’s unique “none of the above” ballot option is unconstitutional and has to go.  U.S. District Judge Robert C. Jones ruled Wednesday that because the “none” option can never win, even if it gets the most votes, it essentially makes those votes not count.

Link

“Military set to log worst voting participation ever”

The Washington Examiner explores how low military voter participation can go. 


You can forget about the impact of the military vote in the 2012 presidential elections. The reason: servicemembers aren’t applying for absentee ballots and the Pentagon isn’t doing much to help them.

“This is immensely disappointing,” said Eric Eversole, founder of the Military Voter Protection Project. “Election Day 2012 could result in an all-time historic low for military voter participation.”

Eversole’s group Tuesday released a report showing that applications by service members in states with high numbers of military residents is in the very low percentages. In Virginia, just 1,746 of 126,251 active military and their spouses, or 1.4 percent, have requested absentee ballots. In North Carolina, the percentage is 1.7 percent, in Alaska 5.9 percent, Ohio 3.3 percent.

And it’s a continuation of a bad trend. Eversole told Secrets that in 2008, 30 percent of the military voted. That dropped to 15 percent in 2010. By comparison, 60 percent of the general population voted in 2008 and 40 percent two years later