Posted on 05/21/2007 11:49:57 AM PDT by sbMKE
Her first vote put her in prison Woman is one of five from city convicted of voter fraud By BILL GLAUBER bglauber@journalsentinel.com Posted: May 21, 2007
Union Grove - Kimberly Prude is 43, a grandmother of three and the face of voter fraud in Wisconsin.
The first vote she cast in her life, in the 2004 presidential election, landed her in the middle of a political storm and put her on a road to a two-year sentence inside the Robert E. Ellsworth Correctional Center.
"At this point, I'm not interested in voting," Prude said last week in a measured voice as she sat in a spare meeting room at the minimum security prison.
It was her first interview since her conviction in September 2005. She wore a gray T-shirt, blue jeans and white tennis shoes. She smiled and appeared comfortable discussing her life in prison, where she earns 26 cents an hour as a cleaner in the kitchen and is studying to complete a high school equivalency diploma.
On advice of her attorney, she declined to discuss the case, which is on appeal.
How Prude got from the streets of Milwaukee to a prison in Racine County is now the stuff of American political history.
Prude cast an illegal vote in 2004. As a felon on probation and under state supervision, she was ineligible to vote.
A woman who dropped out of high school in 10th grade, struggled with substance abuse and compiled a criminal record, Prude found herself up against the might of the federal system.
"I tried to get help in the beginning," she said. "I wrote Oprah (Winfrey's) O Magazine. I got my daughter to call certain talk show hosts, Montel Williams, Maury Povich. There was no interest."
In almost any other election year in perhaps any other state, such a vote might have gone unnoticed and unpunished.
But in Wisconsin - a key battleground state - the closely contested 2004 presidential election between President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was placed under a microscope, especially in Milwaukee.
GOP warned of fraud
In the days leading to the election, Republicans leveled accusations that the vote was subject to fraud and challenged 5,600 addresses of voters on Milwaukee's rolls, while Democrats warned of intimidation and potential suppression of minority voters including African-Americans, such as Prude.
The election was held. The votes were counted. The debate died down.
But the issue did not go away.
In early 2005, Republican officials in Wisconsin complained to senior White House political adviser Karl Rove that Milwaukee U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic was not being aggressive enough in pursuing voter fraud cases.
Biskupic has said he was unaware of those complaints and has repeatedly denied that his office prosecuted any voter fraud case because of White House pressure. As early as 2005, Biskupic was on an "evolving list" of 26 U.S. attorneys to be fired by the Bush administration, according to The Washington Post.
After all the allegations of voter fraud made during the 2004 presidential campaign, federal attorneys in Milwaukee brought 14 cases. Six of those were dismissed before trial, and only five convictions were secured, all Milwaukee residents. Prosecutors had to prove that the voters intended to defraud the system. 10% of all U.S. cases
Although 14 cases may not sound like a lot, they made up more than 10% of all the federal voter fraud cases brought in the United States from 2002 to 2006, according to The Christian Science Monitor.
Four of the cases here involved allegations of double voting, and 10 others involved felons accused of voting.
As in a majority of states, Wisconsin prohibits felony offenders from voting until they have completed probation and parole. Only two states deny the right to vote for all ex-offenders, and nine other states restrict certain ex-offenders or impose a waiting period to vote, according to The Sentencing Project, an advocacy group.
One of those charged by prosecutors here was Derek Little, a felon from Milwaukee, who registered to vote and then cast a ballot on the same day. The only identification he had was a parolee card.
"In big bold letters, it says OFFENDER, and they still let me vote," Little said. "I thought it was their job to know the rules."
Federal attorneys dropped the case. But the experience left Little shaken.
"The Department of Corrections should take the time out and make sure a person understands each and every one of the rules 100 percent," he said. "I don't want anyone else to go through this situation. It will turn you into a nervous wreck."
Prude's case was different.
She worked as a local volunteer for the John Kerry-John Edwards campaign, even calling people to inform them how they could vote. Went to Sharpton rally
On Oct. 22, 2004, she volunteered for a rally that featured the Rev. Al Sharpton. As the rally ended, Sharpton encouraged the crowd to follow him to City Hall, where people could register to vote. Prude joined the crowd, registered to vote and then submitted an absentee ballot. While waiting in line, she said, she heard someone asking for people to work the election-day polls. Prude signed up.
Later, Prude said she notified her parole agent that she had a job as a poll worker and the agent told her she couldn't vote. Prude claimed she called the election commission to attempt to withdraw her ballot but that a person she spoke with told her not to worry about the vote.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Frohling said Prude's story "changed repeatedly."
"You didn't get the sense (from Prude), 'I made a mistake, I forgot.' This was, 'I did it, now I'm trying to cover.' "
During the three-day trial, Prude testified she made a "terrible mistake" by voting and tried to correct it.
The government said Prude was amply warned that felons under supervision could not vote. Prude's parole officer testified that on Sept. 27, 2004, he warned her not to vote.
The government said that at the polls on election day, "Prude improperly vouched for individuals she had never met. She also signed as the corroborating witness on two on-site registration cards for the same voter."
A jury convicted Prude of voter fraud.
She was sentenced to serve two years concurrent with a state sentence for forgery. She pleaded guilty to the state charge in 2000; her six-year prison term was stayed and she was placed on supervision.
The voting fraud conviction contributed to her probation being revoked. Due for release in fall
Prude is expected to be released from prison in the autumn. She plans to return home and pursue a job lead.
For now, she said, the things she misses most are holidays. Asked what gift she wants for her first Christmas at home, she thought for a moment and said, "You know what, I want no surprises this year."
In the fine print at the bottom of the article, it finally is said that the convicted forger was found working as a poll worker and processing multiple registrations, illegally, for single voters, while also working with the Al Sharpton grassroots and the Kerry campaign.
Stacking the ballot box from inside the polls, and the newspaper felt compelled to leave this until the very end.
Three grandkids and only 43?
Goodness...there is still law enforcement in Wisconsin!
Goodness...there is still law enforcement in Wisconsin!
One Democrat down, millions to go...
She worked as a local volunteer for the John Kerry-John Edwards campaign, even calling people to inform them how they could vote. Went to Sharpton rally....
If this were a Republican, it would be the first line..
You mean a 43-year-old grandmother felon, who was warned that she couldn’t vote, then facilitated vote fraud by others.
Typical liberal article. Pull you in by leaving the juicy stuff until the bottom of the article knowing most people read only the first paragraph. I’d give this fraudster 20 years hard labor.
Rampant voter fraud and knowing these freaks are out on the streets turn me into a nervous wreck.
This deserves a Pulitzer for blame-shifting (merciless Rove machine crushes granny) and lede-burying.
Bottom line....She stole someone’s legally cast vote. Thief!!!!!
It all just happened. She didn't have any choice.
And we’re suppose to feel sorry for this one and others like her that would have put skerry in the WH? no, No, NO!
Randy!!!!!!!! Cheeseburger eatin’ bastard!
This woman should be one of many.
Two years in the slammer sounds about right...
being that i’m 42, and my oldest child is 11, that sounded young to me... however, my Mom had three grandkids when she was only 43... she married my Dad when she was 20... had my oldest sister the following year... my oldest sister married when she was 19 (this was back in the 60’s) and my second sister married when she was 20 (also in the 60’s)... by the time my oldest sister was 22, she had two children... (she only had one more 13 years later) and my second sister had her only child by the time she was 21... the funny thing was that my Mom had me just ten months before my oldest sister had my niece... we are only 10 months apart! my parents just celebrated their 61st Wedding Anniversary...
It also would have been the first page main headline: "Republican campaign volunteer guilty of voter fraud!!!"
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