Posted on 10/20/2004 7:34:42 AM PDT by kerrywearsbotox
MSNBC's DAN ABRAMS: We`re back. Who would have thought that Mary Poppins, Michael Jackson and George Foreman all lived in the same tiny little voting district in Ohio, not Beverly Hills, California. Officials in Defiance, Ohio, uncovered a number of voter registration forms with familiar names like Dick Tracy and Janet Jackson all with the addresses in the same Ohio block.
The town sheriff, whom we`ll talk to in a moment, did some investigating and arrested a man who allegedly filled out more than 100 fake voter registration forms, but that`s not all. It wasn`t a spoonful of sugar that got Mary Poppins to register a vote. A spoonful of something else might have been responsible.
Authorities say Chad Staton may have been paid with drugs, crack cocaine, for his efforts. Who paid him? Authorities say a woman named Georgianna Pitts confessed to just that. She says she was working with the NAACP Voter Fund in Toledo as a volunteer.
Authorities say Pitts hired Staton to get people to fill out the voter registration forms and in return, Pitts gave Staton crack. Police raided Pitts` home and found drug paraphernalia, marijuana, voter registration forms. She`s now facing drug charges. Not surprisingly, her neighbors were a little surprised to hear the news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She doesn`t appear to be the type of person that would do that type of thing or even be interested enough in politics. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ABRAMS: Yes, you`ve got two problems. She apparently, according to the neighbor, didn`t seem like a drug dealer and wasn`t interested in politics. We called the NAACP. They would not come on the program. They did give us this statement. Quote -- The NAACP National Voter Fund is shocked by the stories swirling in Ohio regarding a Defiance man who has allegedly filled in over 100 fraudulent voter registration forms in exchange for cocaine. The NAACP National Voter Fund has detailed guidelines outlining procedures that should be followed by volunteers. The individual arrested is not a volunteer on record with our organization. Any person who walks -- works on behalf of NVF is required to abide by these guidelines and all applicable federal and state law. Joining me now is the man who arrested the man for faking the voter registration forms, Defiance County Ohio Sheriff David Westrick. Sheriff, thanks very much for taking the time to come on the program. We appreciate it.
SHERIFF DAVID WESTRICK, DEFIANCE COUNTY OH: Thank you very much.
ABRAMS: Tell me how you found out about this. I mean, you know, first you find out about fake voter registration forms. Does it all come together at one time or did it come in sort of point-by-point?
WESTRICK: Well, we were contacted by our Board of Elections here in Defiance County and stated that they had received over 100 voter registrations from Cuyahoga County and that they didn`t look right. And so we went over and picked them up and we started to look at all of them. And when we saw that Janet Jackson and Dick Tracy had signed up to vote in Defiance County, we thought that to be suspicious. And through looking at all of those, we came up with a common denominator and that was Chad Staton.
ABRAMS: So, you found that all the handwriting seems to match, et cetera. You get this group of forms together, and then what happened? How do you find out that at least this woman says she was paying -- she admits that she was paying him crack to fill out these voter registration forms?
WESTRICK: She was helpful to law enforcement. Chad stated that he was given a choice of crack or money and he chose to be paid with crack cocaine. And with -- along with the help of the Toledo Police Department, we did a search warrant of her home and came up with some paraphernalia and also some voter registrations and she was also cooperative with law enforcement.
ABRAMS: So, again, so let`s be clear. Neither of them are denying the allegations that you are laying out, is that correct?
WESTRICK: That`s correct. Neither are denying that.
ABRAMS: And how does this woman explain -- I mean she is supposedly volunteering her time working to get people registered to vote. How does she explain her thinking process in giving this guy crack to fill out the voter registration forms?
WESTRICK: Well, she stated she was paid $2 for each voter registration form that she could get for Thaddeus Jackson who works for the NAACP.
ABRAMS: And they deny that, correct?
WESTRICK: And -- well, no, Thaddeus Jackson works for the NAACP and Georgianna Pitts was working for the NVF, and that isn`t denied. That...
ABRAMS: What about the $2 though, the $2 per, is that -- do they admit that they were paying her $2?
WESTRICK: Well, our calls to the NAACP have gone unanswered, but we had receipts there that showed where they had paid her $2 to get people to register to vote.
ABRAMS: Is that legal?
WESTRICK: I believe it is.
ABRAMS: Yes. OK. So that`s not the problem here as a legal matter, right? The legal problem...
WESTRICK: No, the problem...
ABRAMS: Yes. Go ahead. I`m sorry.
WESTRICK: ... is that Georgianna Pitts paid Staton with crack cocaine for the 100-plus registrations he took to her.
ABRAMS: And again, any, you know, any indication from her as to how she decided, you know what, I really am interested in getting, you know, the vote out in this election and you know I`m thinking of a good way might be to pay this guy with crack. She give you any sense of what led her to come up with that solution?
WESTRICK: Well, Georgianne thought what she was doing was very important getting people to register. It was just her way of paying for it is a way out of the ordinary.
ABRAMS: Yes, to say the least. All right. Sheriff, finally, one other question. Sheriff, just to state for the purpose of disclosure, you are Republican-elected -- is that true?
WESTRICK: That`s correct.
ABRAMS: And to those who say this is political, you would say what?
WESTRICK: They don`t know me very well.
ABRAMS: Sheriff Westrick, thanks for coming on the program. Appreciate it.
WESTRICK: Thank you.
ABRAMS: Good to see you. From now until Election Day, we`re going to keep on top of all the legal issues that could impact the election. You can get more information on NBC`s Making Your Vote Count project on our Web site, abramsreport.msnbc.com. While you`re there, sign up for our newsletter. Jamie will keep you up to date on what`s going on. She is writing these great newsletters. You`ll know ahead of time what stories we`re covering each day.
Where are the claims of disenfranchisement of white (& other) voters!!!
Yeah, right! [slap on the knuckles...]
'Now don't do it again!' .... OK....
I thought much of these were felonies. I hope they start prosecuting those responsible!
Why isn't the FBI all over these reports ? Are they still down for their naps ?
So he's only worried about the crack thing? NOt the fact that someone forged registrations?
More 'rat race racketeering. Lock them up.
I'm shocked that any portion of the mass media picked this story up. 'Course, I expect the whole thing to disappear into the black hole of Dastardly Democrat Deeds by tomorrow.
Two things are for sure in this world:
1)Italy loves David Hasselhoff...
and
2) Crack heads will sing like a canary!
Exposing it on a net almost no-one watches :) Was the same story on NBC's Nightly News?
Have you all made your phone calls? Dept of Justice 202-514-2000 and Attorney General 202-353-1555. We need to demand this be investigated and punished to the full extent of the law!
The FEC will take care of the vote fraud portion. And I stand by my prediction that ol' Thaddeus Jack$on will walk. He'll have made sure there's no way to tie him to vote fraud...even if his name winds up being tied to more cases.
WESTRICK: No, the problem...is that Georgianna Pitts paid Staton with crack cocaine for the 100-plus registrations he took to her.
Tne crack is a red herring. What about the 100 FAKE registrations?
Can fake registrations like this actually result in counted votes? For example, could someone other than "Dick Smith" actually go to the polling place and say, "My name is Dick Smith", be matched up with the registration in that name, and cast a vote? Could a absentee ballot be cast in that name?
in states that do not require ID to vote, yes
Sleezy Mfumi strikes again!!!
Yeah, this isn't fair! I always wanted to register as Wonder Woman! I've been disenfranchised!!
Think we could get Edwards to file a class actionsuit? I'm sure Garfield and Spiderman would like a piece of this...
Yes!. As long as he has somebody at that address willing to accept mail for him under that name, he's good to go!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.