Posted on 12/15/2005 2:03:11 PM PST by LdSentinal
NEW YORK Results of a state senate election in western Tennessee have been thrown into doubt, and an investigation into voter fraud launched, after the Memphis Commercial Appeal uncovered proof that votes had been cast for dead people.
The Sept. 15 special election to fill a vacant seat in the 29th state Senate District, which includes part of Memphis, had already drawn intense interest when the margin of victory was just 13 votes out of 8,750 cast. Democrat Ophelia Ford had edged Republican Terry Roland in the race to fill the seat previously held by Ford's brother, John, who was forced to resign in May after being indicted on bribery charges.
After the election, Roland's campaign began to review voter rolls looking for questionable votes in the tight race. The campaign also filed a plea with the state Senate to bar Ford from being seated when the Senate convenes next year.
John Harvey, a Roland campaign advisor, said he came up with about 60 names he believed might have not been authorized to vote for several reasons and gave the names to Commercial Appeal reporter Marc Perrusquia last week.
The reporter, a 16-year veteran of the paper, began reviewing the names and addresses of those who had voted in one of the district's 60 precincts, and discovered one person's address was a vacant lot. He then cross-matched names with the paper's recent obituaries and found the person, Joe Light, had died about six weeks before the election.
"I discovered that someone had signed his name and he had voted on Election Day," Perrusquia said. His first story on that lone voter ran last Sunday. "I wondered if there were more, but it was like finding a needle in a haystack."
On Monday and Tuesday, Perrusquia did more cross-checking between voting results and obituaries and came across another dead voter, one Archie L. Kirkwood, who had died Aug. 30. A story ran Wednesday revealing that fraud.
Just hours after Perrusquia's second story appeared, officials at the Shelby County Election Commission released results of their own review, revealing that at least three more votes in the same precinct had been wrongly cast. But it was not clear if those votes were in the names of dead people or were illegal for other reasons. Election Commission Chair Greg Duckett told the paper that the Shelby County District Attorney had launched an investigation into the matter.
"They believe that the same person may have forged them all, a poll worker maybe," Perrusquia said. "They have also conceded that three felons not allowed to vote had voted and a person from outside the district had voted, so the election is already tainted."
But the Commercial Appeal hasn't stopped there. Perrusquia said he has begun reviewing voter rolls and obituaries involving several of the other 59 precincts in the same Senate district, and has requested a copy of the state's death registry to help with the comparisons. "There are a good many precincts left," he said.
Commercial Appeal Editor Chris Peck could not be reached for comment.
Harvey, the Roland campaign advisor, praised the Commercial Appeal for sparking the investigations. "I think they are going to have to throw the [election results] out," Roland said, adding that the newspaper "did a great job and it looks like they are still digging."
Surpris, surprise, surprise. Dead Democrats manage to vote while dead Republicans don't.
And to think that we now have U.S.Senators in Iraq to make sure their election is running right. Barf Barf.
Harold FORD is nothing but a crooked pol like the whole family !!
Wise up TENN.
Classic Democrat movie favorite - "Dead Man Voting"
Don't they know how to make up anonymous sources and conduct a poll like other newspapers?
Yeah but they might have voted Republican, right?
/sarcasm
Dead people with purple fingers?
"Surpris, surprise, surprise. Dead Democrats manage to vote while dead Republicans don't."
Dead Republicans tend to lose interest in politics, but dead dems never do. Its not all that different in life.
Is Ophelia Ford part of the same Ford clan as John & Harold?
I worked in Memphis for about a year--I'd love to hear Mike Fleming's radio show tonight!
This is why the majority of people are conservative and the "Majority" of elected democrats are liberal. the libs are fixing the "system" and getting other libs elected. that's why the unions are so powerful. the one who "counts the vote, wins the election"
Democrat Ophelia Ford had edged Republican Terry Roland in the race to fill the seat previously held by Ford's brother, John
I would imagine it will be somewhat easier to detect democrat fraud in 2006 since voters named, "Tookie," should warrant extra scrutiny.
If Frist had cojones he would be calling for federal intervention. Problem is, the guy is a wuss -- in the Lindsay Graham league.
Polls by Zogby show that the only demographic more loyal to the democrats than African-Americans are dead people. Every dead voter identified to date has been a staunch democrat--at least during the time period that the person has been dead.
Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are racing to Memphis to demonstrate against the denial of equal voting rights to the dead. Jackson was quoted as saying "I cannot stand aside and hide, nor will I abide the injustice of seeing voting rights denied to those who have died." Rev. Sharpton issued a plea to "Pass me some o' dem poke chops". Sharpton's office has not yet responded to a request for clarification of his comments.
A protest demonstration billed as the "Million Corpse March" was cancelled when no marching dead people showed up for the event. Asked to comment, well known dead leader Nancy Pelosi said, "I was busy in D.C. I don't know where the other corpses were."
A statement from the White House said: "President Bush feels badly for all those who have died and the families left behind." Tomorrow's headline: "BUSH TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL DEATHS"
I know--but do you know if Ophelia is related to John/Harold? Or is the surname Ford just a coincidence?
Next time you hear DEM b*tching of not having voting opportunity, it's just a crock... They apparently can even drag dead people to vote!!!
brother/nephew
There are no coincidences with the Ford name in Memphis.
Ophelia is *gasp* John Ford's sister, and *double gasp* aunt to Harld Ford Jr.
And they are ALL crooked.
Why you ignorant VRWC Swine, Sir! No family in Tennessee has done more for the dead than the Fords. Unless of course, it would be the Gore family.
You Republicans and your pettifogging electoral rules! Would you deny the only selfless constituency in this great land of ours their votes? The dead consume no precious resources. They make no demands. All they ask is that some caring. compassionate Democrat helps them make a statement. Your blind adherence to unfair regulation would rob them of self-esteem. Have you never heard of the absentee ballot, Sir? Can you deny that the dead are absent, but that their spirits hover 'round the electoral rolls?
Members of a minority group, which modesty forbids me to name, and women were denied the vote for hundreds of years. They have every right to make up for those years, whether they are at ambient temperature or not. What next, you cheese-paring Republican cur ... some sort of proof that a Tennessee voter is alive, registered in the precinct in which he is voting, and only voting once?
Despicable discrimination and suppression of the minority vote, I calls it.
One logistical note on the 'Million Corpse March:" I have ordered the buses, and of course I have the names and addresses from the voter registration rolls, but I can't figure out how to actually get them to the buses, never mind seated.
Perhaps the Ford family could advise me? After all, they have no trouble getting the dead to the polls. I'll call Donna Brazile, SickDick Daley, and Fast Eddie Rendell, too. Nothing like experience.
Not that requiring ID would stop them all that much- How do you stop a poll worker (such as the one suspected in this case of casting these fraudulent ballots, or as the ones performing the traditional "recount" in Detroit) from stealing an election?
(The answer: More Republicans watching the polls, more of the time. :) )
I believe the departed reached an all time political high when they were able to elect one of their own to the Senate from Missouri. Why, even the dead from East St. Louis got to vote in that one, due to a Dem judge keeping the polls open long enough for them to shamble across the Mississippi.
Cheers for the reporter. They don't make many like him.
Big city full of liberals - did they expect an honest election?
WHAT????? Really? Does the reporter doing this story know this? Any chance of getting a subpoena of their records to compare directly w/ the election rolls?
The dead vote routinely in big cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, etc. I don't know why anyone would be surprised to find the same thing in Memphis or St. Louis.
The GOP usually isn't even trying to win those elections; it only becomes an issue when a GOP candidate really wants to win. Which is seldom.
There have been so many Fords who've been elected or appointed to so many different political positions in Memphis, Shelby County, and/or State over the past 30 years, that I just can't keep up with exactly how they're all related.
But in St. Louis, the dead actually elected a dead guy: Carnahan. Now that's true representation.
More Ford family fun
What a great referral!
Tanks!
"How do you stop a poll worker (such as the one suspected in this case of casting these fraudulent ballots, or as the ones performing the traditional "recount" in Detroit) from stealing an election?"
You get a felony conviction for voter fraud.
We Tenneseans have known this for a long, long time especially those of us who live in or near Memphis. We scream it loudly here on FR. To bad FNC can't figure out what we've known by looking at his voting record. They still think he's a blue dog RAT, because he is soft spoken and not given to fits like man of his fellow RATS.
She's his aunt. Suspiciously elected to the seat of his uncle, who is under indictment for selling his votes.
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