Wisconsin: Fraud or bumbling, voter problems still unnerving to public

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ^ | 1/30/05 | GREG J. BOROWSKI

[Jean S]

Fraud or bumbling, voter problems still unnerving to public

By GREG J. BOROWSKI
gborowski@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Jan. 29, 2005

On Nov. 2, when the nation picked a president, an unprecedented number of volunteers, district attorneys and others watched the polls in Milwaukee and around the state.

Milwaukee Election Problems

Related Coverage

Kane: Election snafus must not eclipse voices of voters
Stingl: Mysterious phantom voters turn out to be some really nice people

Recent Coverage

1/29/05: Scandal fuels renewed push for voter ID bill
1/2805: City OK'd 1,305 flawed voter cards
1/26/05: Police, FBI join investigation into possible election fraud
1/25/05: Over 1,200 voters’ addresses found invalid
1/20/05: Evaluation of election begins
1/18/05: Unsent voter cards don't signal fraud, official says
1/14/05: Lawmaker criticizes voter verification process

From the Archives

Section: Nov. 2 elections coverage

Now, with a probe into possible voter fraud launched last week, a state audit in the works and the creation of a local election task force, the entire process - one that many believe is riddled with holes - is getting even more scrutiny.

Nevertheless, while the Journal Sentinel has found 1,200 votes recorded from invalid addresses and a gap of more than 7,000 unaccounted for votes, there are no guarantees law enforcement officials will be able to identify fraud or charge anyone with it if they do.

Indeed, the same open system that makes it easy to vote on election day, long a point of pride for the state, makes it difficult to determine later if someone voted twice, voted as someone else or intentionally used a bad address.

In other words, it is one thing to find a crime, another to identify who is responsible for it.

What's more, when a crush of voters met an already stressed election system in Milwaukee, it resulted in records that are incomplete, duplicates or - in the case of more than 7,000 votes - not yet accounted for.

That could further complicate efforts to determine exactly who voted.

The investigation was launched after the Journal Sentinel's report of votes from invalid addresses and is being run by Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann and U.S. Attorney Steve Biskupic, with help from the Milwaukee Police Department and the local FBI office.

The newspaper has since reported another 1,305 people registered at the polls and were given ballots even though their cards were flawed or invalid. Of those, more than 500 of the cards did not list an address, 141 had an address from outside the city and 48 did not list a name on the registration card.

Also, verification cards sent to about 2,800 addresses have been returned by the U.S. Postal Service as undeliverable. While some may be explained as people who moved since the election, or the result of errors in entering addresses into the system, the ever-growing tally of suspect votes has raised alarms for many.

"Somebody didn't do the job to be sure people were properly registered before they cast votes," said Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale). "And I think that points back to the Election Commission of the City of Milwaukee."

City officials say they are working to improve the process, and welcome the law-enforcement investigation, saying any fraud should be punished.

In general, Mayor Tom Barrett and Lisa Artison, executive director of the Election Commission, have blamed human errors and an overwhelmed system for the problems.

One measure Barrett aides offer: The 1,305 registration cards that could not be processed amount to an average of about four at each ward.

Voter ID

Stone soon will introduce a measure that would require everyone voting at the polls to show a valid photo identification card. Despite outrage among some generated by the Journal Sentinel's findings, most observers believe the measure will meet the same fate as it did last time:

Passage in the Republican-controlled Legislature, then a veto from Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.

As it stands now, only those registering on Election Day must show identification or otherwise have their identity established for poll workers.

This can be done by having a registered voter "vouch" for someone - something critics see is a major hole in the system. At this point, it is unclear how often this technique was used in the Nov. 2 election.

In looking into the election, the Journal Sentinel has requested and reviewed thousands of records, including a list of everyone recorded as voting in the election.

That is where the gap of more than 7,000 votes comes in.

In the city, 277,535 ballots were cast. But the city's own election records show only 269,212 people as having voted, a difference of about 8,300. About 1,300 of those would represent the same-day registration cards that could not be processed.

Officials say the remainder of the gap may be due to problems in transferring the records of who voted at the polls - kept on cards and in hand-tallied log books from each ward - into the city's computer system.

That process alone, the newspaper found, led to hundreds of duplicate listings, whereby the same person is recorded by the city with two votes, even though each apparently received only one ballot at the polls.

Chris Kliesmet, a leader of the group Citizens for Responsible Government, compares the state's election system to a bank being run on the honor system.

"Anyone can sign you up for an account, and when you go to the window to withdraw the vote, you don't have to prove who you are," he said, adding you could even find your vote is "already gone."

Charges rare

Four years ago, after the Journal Sentinel reported that at least 361 felons had voted improperly in the city, McCann charged three people with illegal voting.

One was an attorney from Shorewood, and two were Milwaukee men, both of whom were listed in a newspaper story.

In the end, the charges were dropped because prosecutors could not establish that the three felons knew they were forbidden from voting while they were still on probation or parole.

And nothing came of the other 300-plus cases found.

Prosecution of election-related cases is rare, though not unheard of.

In Racine, two Milwaukee men are awaiting trial on election fraud cases tied to voter registration drives, in which authorities say fraudulent cards were submitted to election officials there last fall.

Artison, of the Milwaukee Election Commission, referred some similar problems in Milwaukee to McCann's office for investigation before the election. No charges have been issued in that matter.

In Brown County, prosecutors have charged an Illinois resident who used to attend St. Norbert College with voting Nov. 2 at his old address. The man faces up to 3 ½ years in prison and a fine of $10,000 if convicted.

While many have hailed the local investigation into possible voter fraud, equally important answers about underlying problems likely will come from somewhere else.

At the urging of 10 Republican lawmakers, a state audit that is to include a focus on Milwaukee soon will be launched. That probe, which could be finalized this week, is expected also to look at a selection of counties and communities around the state.

The Journal Sentinel found spotty compliance with a state law that requires verification cards to be sent to all new voters, and for any cards returned as undeliverable to be sent to the district attorney.

"Certainly, there is interest in looking more broadly," said Jan Mueller, state auditor.

Meanwhile, a Milwaukee election task force appointed by Barrett - criticized for including only city employees - has begun a review seeking ways to improve the process, with a report due by June.

"I think there is significant room for improvement," said Ald. Michael Murphy, chairman of the council's Finance and Personnel Committee.

He said voters should be concerned about potential for fraud whether they're "Republican, Democrat or Libertarian."

While Wisconsin is not alone in lacking a voter ID requirement, it is one of a handful of such states that also allow same-day registration. When the two are combined, that makes the state one of the most open in the country.

To be sure, many of the problems and loopholes that now face scrutiny have long existed.

The intensity of emotion surrounding them has been fueled in part by two consecutive razor-thin presidential results.

This time, Democrat John Kerry topped President Bush in Wisconsin by 11,384 votes. The state - particularly the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee - could have been subject to a Florida-style recount if a larger state, such as Ohio, not gone for Bush.

Ald. Mike D'Amato said the problems in Milwaukee are of greater concern to Republicans in Madison trying to bolster support for the photo ID requirement than to the average Milwaukee resident.

"The problems of the system are better than the alternative, which is to disenfranchise voters," D'Amato said.

He noted that the 1,200 votes from invalid addresses found by the Journal Sentinel represent 0.4% of all the ballots cast in the city.

Others, though, say the numbers are troubling. Consider:

The 1,305 registration cards that could not be processed due to missing names and other deficiencies represent 1.75% of the 74,384 same-day registrations.

The nearly 2,800 verification cards that have been returned as undeliverable total nearly 4% of those sent.

The gap of 7,000 unaccounted for votes, which may never be explained fully, is 2.5% of the total ballots cast in the city.

Mistrust grows

Add everything up, combine it with a system that can break down when votes are cast at the polls and when they are recorded later, and it contributes to great public skepticism.

Take Linda M. Chojnacki, who lives in an apartment on W. Montana St. City records show a second Linda M. Chojnacki voting from a house on S. 7th St.

But various public records checked by the Journal Sentinel could not confirm a second person by the same name, and the Linda M. Chojnacki who lives on Montana St. is not aware of anyone in Milwaukee with an identical name.

What's more, she has never lived on S. 7th St. and, when told of the duplication by the Journal Sentinel, now worries if someone else may have canceled her vote.

"I think they have big problems," she said of the city.

Or take Jerry Faas, who lives on N. Oakland Ave. and spent years trying to get the name of a former tenant in his duplex struck from the city's voter rolls at that address.

Faas said the tenant moved out in the early 1990s, but it wasn't until last spring that his attempts succeeded, and the name was no longer listed on voter logs.

"They would send a postcard to him that said if you do not reply, you will be taken off the rolls," said Faas. "I'd get the card, I wouldn't reply, figuring they would take him off, and the next election when I would vote, I'd find him on the rolls."

Tom Kertscher of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

From the Jan. 30, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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[Paleo Conservative]

Well what shoud they expect with same day registration at the polls?

[digger48]

With the technology available, why must we tolerate this?

With the existing election laws, why are the prosecutions of intentional voter fraud so rare?

We could do better than this with bottles of blue ink.

[damncat]

What's more, when a crush of voters met an already stressed election system in Milwaukee,


My polling place has never been "stressed" it only appears stressed where blacks vote. Likely due to first time voters, and democrats fruad fueled frenzy.

[yooper]

They have the ballots; they don't know who the voters were. I can understand that. What I want to know is how many of those ballots went for Kerry. THAT, they know, and the stats would be the smoke from the gun, even if they don't have the gun.

The Journal Sentinal has demonstrated an amazing level of ordinary journalism with regard to this matter. They should publish what percentage of the ballots went to Kerry.

[Jean S]

They should but you know they won't and I'm certain they have the numbers.

[Last Dakotan]

The fraud advanced by the democrats undercuts the very fabric of our free and just society, and the JS can only call it unnerving?

[jim_trent]

You mean to tell me that they could not prosocute a LAWYER for woting twice because they could not PROVE he didn't know he wasn't supposed to? What happened to "ignorance of the law is no excuse"?

[speekinout]

What I want to know is how many of those ballots went for Kerry. THAT, they know,

I doubt that they do know that. Votes are secret in this country. Ballots are separated from the records of who voted. You can know how many votes were fraudulent, but you can't know who they were voted for.

[LouD]

"The problems of the system are better than the alternative, which is to disenfranchise voters," D'Amato said.

I was disenfranchised. People voted multiple times, and neutralized my vote.

[t2buckeye]

But statistically, you could figure out the probability and be about right. Obviously, since Milwaukee went heavily for Kerry, the ratio of Kerry votes would match the county approximately...and therefore, Wisconsin was MUCH closer than Ohio's..but then, you already knew that!

[Blood of Tyrants]

The election system in Milwaukee is EXACTLY what the 'Rats want it to be.

[cookcounty]

The Iraqis had to brave threats of death, get frisked twice, see weapons at the polls, get their finger marked with indelible ink, produce 2 forms of ID, including picture ID, and these posturing political pimps in Wisconsin want to complain about "voter intimidation?"