Posted on 10/23/2012 7:11:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Florida Department of State’s Division of Elections is investigating a number of fraudulent letters sent to voters in the state questioning their citizenship and voter eligibility, in a possible attempt to keep them home on Election Day.
“The Florida Department of State unequivocally opposes all attempts at voter fraud or intimidation and will pursue every avenue to ensure free, fair and open elections for all eligible voters,” Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner said in a statement. “Voter fraud and intimidation can deny voters their voice in government and will not be tolerated.”
The statement alerted the public of the fraudulent letters, which claim to be from Florida election officials and imply that the recipient might be ineligible to vote.
Charles Callaghan, a Republican from Ponte Vedra, received one of the fraudulent letters Saturday.
“Basically, when I read the letter, I got the impression that I was not going to be able to vote, because my citizenship was being questioned,” Callaghan told The Daily Caller. “I wasn’t quite sure why it would be, because I was born in the United States, and I’ve always been a United States citizen, and nothing has changed in my life … that would cause my citizenship to be called into question.”
Callaghan noticed that his letter lacked a return address and included faulty contact information and a Seattle, Washington postmark.
“I said to my wife, somebody is just trying to keep me from voting,” Callaghan said. “To put that doubt in my mind that I can’t vote and then not give me a way that I could dispute it — because they didn’t give me a phone number or address — they are thinking I am going to get frustrated and just not go vote. ”
The Romney campaign said it is aware of the possible fraud.
“Our campaign is concerned with this situation, and we are monitoring it closely,” Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams emailed TheDC. “If anybody believes that they have received one of these letters, we urge them to contact their local election officials and the Florida Department of State.”
According to the Florida Department of State, voter fraud constitutes a third-degree felony and is punishable by up to $5,000 fine and five years in prison.
“We’ve received multiple reports of a fraudulent letter that impersonates supervisors of elections and indicates that eligible voters might be ineligible,” Chris Cate, spokesman for the Division of Elections, explained to the Tampa Bay Times, which reported the letters have gone mostly — if not entirely — to Republicans in the state.
“We’re working with the state’s supervisors of elections, as well law enforcement, to identify the source of the letters and put a stop to them,” Cate said.
Someone needs to be prosecuted for this. It is one of the worst kinds of theft because harms the life of everyone living in the US. I pray that someone will be found and charged quickly.
So will the OSCE election observers look into this?
Apparently, Democrats in WA are so good at election fraud, they’ve decided to branch out to other states.
I hope they send me one of those letters...just do it...I’m born, reared, NATIVE of Florida and I still live here. My family has been on this continent since 1630.
any arrests yet???
They won’t care unless these were sent to Democrats
Are you kidding? This is against Republicans.
Obama needs to get one.
Democrats yet again will do anything to stop republicans form voting and then get more votes which are frauds whilst the media yet AGAIN will cover for them.
I;m up the road from Ponte Vedra and I have not got one of these letters yet. I;’m from England but now American so we’ll see if I get one soon.
The problem is that whilst I;m up thr road from this guy in this article th emedia has not mentioned this yet around here, not even the local media like the St Augustine record or the local Ponte vedra paper.
I’ve just sent them an e-mail butI won;t hold my breath.
Anyone convicted of voter fraud needs to be imprisoned and sent straight to a gold, old-fashioned “chain gang”.
My mom, a registered Republican, got a letter something like this. I didn’t get to see hers - unfortunately she threw it out instead of keeping it for me to look at. She didn’t say anything about the letter questioning her citizenship. She did say that the letter claimed she was not registered to vote. The letter didn’t ask her to register, or offer to help her register, so I told her I thought it was an attempt to discourage her from voting.
On my advice, she called the local Supervisor of Elections office. The person she spoke to said Mom’s registration was valid, and that the elections office had gotten “a lot of calls” like hers.
Mom got her letter several weeks ago - before the voter registration deadline. Now the voter registration deadline has passed, so I guess they are doubling down on this sleazy tactic hoping that people will believe they can’t get re-registered in time to vote.
I hope that few Republicans are fooled and I hope that the perpetrators go to jail for a long time. But I am not holding my breath, especially for that last wish.
Good ‘ol Alinsky...for years; the DEMOCRATS have whined about the GOP ‘disenfranchising’ voters (without any evidence), and yet here we have clear and compelling evidence that the rats are trying to disenfranchise Republicans. Alinsky tactics, pure and simple.
Who do these people think they're dealing with? Democrats???
Anyone convicted of voter fraud needs to be imprisoned and sent straight to a gold, old-fashioned “chain gang”.
No, voter fraud is treason and should be punished as such!
Mark
I’d wager a weeks pay that MoveOn is somehow tied to this!
Unfortunately, these tactics are being used by both sides to suppress voters. They need to be stopped. They disgrace the American process.
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